THE  WITNESS 

OF    THE    SUN 


VNIV.  fl*  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS 


From  original  painting  by  C.  Loiave 


SENORA  CORTEZ 


THE  WITNESS 

OF  THE  SUN 

BY 
HENRY  SMITH    WILLIAMS 


FRONTISPIECE 

BY 
C-   LOTAVE 


GARDEN  CITY  NEW  YORK 

.  DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

1920 


COPYRIGHT,    1920,    BY 
DOUBLEDAY,    PAGE    &    COMPANY 

ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED,    INCLUDING  THAT  OF  TRANSLATION 
INTO   FOREIGN  LANGUAGES,  INCLUDING  THE  SCANDINAVIAN 

COPYBIGHT,    1920,   BT   THOMPSON   FEATURE  SEBV1CE,    INC. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Sunshine  and  Shadow  in  a  Busi- 
ness Office 3 

II.     A  Valuable  Autograph  ....  16 

III.  An  Object  Lesson  With  a  Sequel  .  29 

IV.  The  Official  Verdict       ....  36 
V.     A  Pair  of  Hatpins 46 

VI.     The   District   Attorney   Takes    a 

Hand 58 

VII.    A  Fresh  Clue 76 

VIII.     Enter  the  Gypsy 87 

IX.     A  Guilty  Man  or  an  Innocent  Man 

with  Imagination      ....  93 

X.     When  Doctors  Disagree      .      .      .  100 

XI.     Jack  Henley's  Discovery  and  What 

Came  of  It 114 

XII.     More  Finger-Prints        ....  125 

XIII.    The  Press  and  Dame  Rumour.  136 


2133703 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIV.  A  Chance  for  Crosby     ....  144 

XV.  How  It  Looked  to  the  Defence     .  154 

XVI.  The  Case  for  the  Prosecution        .  185 

XVII.  Dark   Clouds  —  and   a  Streak  of 

Silver  Lining 210 

XVIII.  The  Case  for  the  Defence  ...  224 

XIX.  Jack  Henley  as  Unofficial  Expert  236 

~XX.  The  Witness  of  the  Sun      ...  246 

XXI.  The  Finger-Print  Mystery        .      .  255 

XXII.  A  Curtain  Hole  and  What  It  Re- 
vealed          267 

XXHI.  The  Airplane  Gun 275 

XXTV.  "Suicide  Is  Confession"      ...  288 

XXV.  A  Matter  of  Fact  297 


THE  WITNESS 

OF    THE   SUN 


The  Witness  of  the  Sun 

CHAPTER  I 
Sunshine  and  Shadow  in  a  Business  Office 

COMING  events  cast  their  shadows  before — 
sometimes.     But    how    much    more    fre- 
quently do  events — significant  events  that 
is — seem    to    come    unheralded,    stealthily,    like 
thieves  in  the  night,  or  like  the  proverbial  bolt 
from  the  blue. 

Who,  for  example,  could  have  foretold  that 
tragedy  lurked  in  the  office  of  John  Theobold  that 
morning  of  July  8th,  and  was  to  claim  her  victim 
within  the  very  hour?  There  was  no  hand's 
breadth  of  cloud  in  the  sky  outside,  and  there  was 
no  cloud-speck  within  the  mental  horizon  of  John 
Theobold  himself  as  he  entered  his  office  at  nine 
o'clock,  in  accordance  with  his  unvarying  custom. 
There  was  no  trace  of  apprehension  in  his  mind. 
Assuredly,  no  shadow  of  impending  disaster  fell 
across  his  path  that  serene  summer  morning. 

s 


4  THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

On  the  contrary,  Theobold,  who  was  always  a 
man  of  buoyant  spirits,  appeared  this  morning 
to  be  in  a  mood  even  more  than  usually  enthu- 
siastic. He  nodded  and  spoke  cheerily  to  his 
private  secretary,  Frank  Crosby,  who  occupied  a 
desk  at  the  right  of  the  door. 

"Harris  and  De  Lage  will  be  here  at  nine- 
fifteen.  Show  them  in  at  once,  and  let  no  one  else 
in  while  they  are  here." 

He  turned  to  his  stenographer,  Miss  Cynthia 
Collins,  a  tall,  slender,  and  exceedingly  pretty  girl 
who  occupied  a  desk  at  the  left. 

"I  will  see  you  for  a  moment  as  soon  as  I  am 
settled,"  he  said. 

Then  he  stepped  briskly  to  a  door  at  the  other 
side  of  the  room,  and  a  moment  later  called  out: 
"Hello,  Jack;  come  here  a  moment  please,"  as  he 
disappeared  into  the  private  office. 

Jack  Henley,  the  person  addressed,  was  just  at 
that  age  when  one  is  too  old  to  be  called  a  boy  and 
too  young  to  be  called  a  man.  To  be  explicit, 
he  was  but  a  few  months  past  fourteen  years, 
but  he  was  grown  pretty  well  toward  the  stature 
of  a  man — taller,  indeed,  than  either  Crosby  or 
Mr.  Theobold,  the  latter  of  whom  was  built  along 
the  lines  of  what  might  be  described  as  liberality 
of  longitude  rather  than  of  latitude. 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW  5 

Jack  Henley's  face  had  the  open  frankness  of 
boyhood  combined  with  a  certain  keenness  that 
came,  doubtless,  partly  of  heredity  and  partly  of 
experience  in  a  metropolitan  business  office.  It 
was  the  type  of  clean-cut  face — rather  thin  in 
contour,  sharply  chiselled,  with  straight  nose, 
firm  chin,  and  clear  blue  eye — that  is  regarded  by 
some  students  of  ethnology  as  typically  American. 

Other  students  of  equal  authority  might  cavil 
at  such  a  characterization,  however,  and  could 
find  abundant  support  for  then1  contention  in  a 
glance  at  the  face  of  the  man  who  had  summoned 
Jack  to  his  office.  For  John  Theobold  would 
have  claimed  himself  as  a  "typical  American," 
had  the  point  been  raised,  and  could  have  brought 
forward  in  support  of  his  claim  the  fact  that  seven 
generations  of  his  ancestors  had  lived  in  New 
England  and  New  York;  yet  Theobold's  face,  like 
his  entire  figure,  was  sharply  contrasted  in  char- 
acter from  that  of  the  young  man  whom  he  had 
selected  as  his  confidential  office  boy. 

Not  only  was  Theobold  short  of  body  and  large 
of  girth,  but  his  head  and  face  were  apparently 
built  on  the  same  plan. 

His  was  the  broad,  rather  low,  type  of  skull, 
matched  by  full,  rounded  cheeks,  a  rather  coarse 
mouth,  and  a  thick  bulbous  nose  that  is  not  in- 


6  THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

frequently  associated  with  business  acumen  and 
capacity  for  what  has  come  to  be  airily  spoken  of  as 
high  finance. 

It  could  be  a  very  unpleasant  face  if  its  owner 
chanced  to  be  out  of  sorts.  It  could  take  on  an 
aspect  of  utter  inscrutability  if  he  were  listening 
to  a  dubious  project  that  he  had  been  asked  to 
capitalize;  it  could  become  fox-like  in  alertness, 
despite  its  contour,  when  he  sought  to  drive  a 
hard  bargain — at  which,  it  may  be  added,  he 
seldom  failed;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  could 
beam  with  seeming  benevolence  and  to-all-the- 
world  friendliness,  as  it  did  this  morning,  on  oc- 
casions when  events  had  so  shaped  themselves 
that  to  John  Theobold  all  the  world  seemed 
pleasing. 

There  was  every  reason  why  he  should  be  in  this 
holiday  mood  to-day,  for  within  the  coming  half 
hour  he  expected  to  complete  a  transaction  involv- 
ing a  project  that  he  had  financed  and  nursed  for 
the  best  part  of  a  year,  which  at  first  had  seemed 
visionary  and  dubious,  but  which  now  gave  full 
assurance  of  brilliant  success.  If  arrangements 
made  the  afternoon  before  were  carried  through, 
as  he  had  every  reason  to  anticipate,  he  would  be 
richer  by  a  half  million  dollars  before  he  was  an 
hour  older.  Indeed,  nothing  more  was  now  re- 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW  7 

quired  than  the  signing  of  two  or  three  names 
to  a  document  lying  in  his  safe,  and  the  thing 
would  be  done. 

In  effect,  with  a  stroke  of  his  pen,  he  could 
transform  the  document  in  question  from  a 
nickel's  worth  of  typewriting  to  three  quarters  of  a 
million  dollars'  worth  of  contract;  and  two  thirds 
of  said  three  quarter  million  would  be  his. 

Under  such  circumstances,  who  would  not  be 
cheerful?  Who  would  not  say  a  gracious  word 
to  his  secretary,  give  a  pleasant  smile  to  his 
stenographer,  and  call  out  cheerily  to  the  youth 
who  served  him  as  office  boy? 

For  how  could  any  one  know,  any  more  than 
John  Theobold  knew  this  morning,  that  the  fates 
which  seemed  to  have  dealt  him  a  full  hand  of 
trumps  had  in  reality  determined  to  declare  the 
game  a  misdeal  when  the  hand  seemed  fairly  won, 
and  to  claim  as  penalty  no  less  a  stake  than  a 
human  life? 

Even  in  our  day  of  science  it  is  as  true  as  ever 
that  "Heaven  from  all  creatures  hides  the  book  of 
fate."  And  we  may  thank  our  stars  that  it  is  so, 
for  why  should  the  evils  of  an  unmaterialized 
future  rob  us  of  the  joyous  realities  of  the  present — 
even  though  that  future  be  as  imminent  and  as 
insecurely  posed  as  the  sword  of  Damocles,  waiting 


8  THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

only  a  single  move  of  the  minute  hand  of  the 
clock? 

Such  thoughts  as  these,  however,  had  no  place 
in  the  mind  of  John  Theobold  that  morning.  His 
thoughts  were  indeed  concerned  at  the  instant 
with  the  hands  of  the  clock,  but  in  no  tragic  or 
symbolical  fashion.  He  had  merely  noted  as  he 
entered  his  private  office  that  the  hands  of  the  clock 
on  the  wall  beyond  his  desk  indicated  seventeen 
minutes  after  nine. 

There  was  no  need  even  to  glance  at  his  watch 
to  see  if  the  clock  was  wrong;  for  when  had  he 
been  seventeen  minutes  late  in  coming  to  his 
office?  His  car  came  to  the  door  with  absolute 
punctuality  at  8:45.  At  that  hour  the  avenue  was 
never  crowded.  If  a  cross-street  was  torn  up  and 
impassable,  it  was  the  business  of  his  chauffeur 
to  know  it  and  to  avoid  that  street.  There  might 
be  a  leeway  of  two  or  conceivably  three  minutes, 
accounted  for  by  unsuspected  blockades;  but  even 
that  would  be  rare,  and  a  delay  of  seventeen 
minutes  would  be  without  precedent. 

Therefore  the  clock  was  wrong. 

On  another  occasion  such  a  discovery  might 
have  sufficed  to  throw  Theobold  into  a  fit  of  rage. 

"A  clock  in  my  office  seventeen  minutes  out  of 
time?"  he  would  have  shouted.  "Why,  I  won't 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW  9 

tolerate  for  a  minute  having  anything  seventeen 
minutes  out  of  plumb  in  this  office." 

And  there  would  have  been  for  an  hour  or  two 
thereafter  a  sense  of  insecurity  in  the  office  that 
would  have  put  the  nerves  of  private  secretary  and 
confidential  office  boy  under  rather  painful  tension. 
It  would  not  greatly  have  affected  the  nerves  of  the 
confidential  stenographer,  however,  that  young 
lady  knowing  herself  to  be  indispensable,  and  feel- 
ing quite  able  to  cope  with  bad  temper  of  any  and 
all  comers,  including  the  head  of  the  firm. 

On  this  morning,  however,  a  little  thing  like  a 
clock  out  of  time  could  not  for  a  moment  disturb 
the  equanimity  of  John  Theobold. 

To  be  sure,  his  eagle  eye  could  not  fail  to  detect 
the  discrepancy  at  the  very  first  glance  (though 
he  probably  had  overlooked  it  for  a  number  of 
days  before),  but  whereas  it  was  a  thing  to  be 
corrected,  it  certainly  was  nothing  at  which  a 
master  of  high  finance,  who  is  by  way  of  turning  a 
half -million-dollar  trick,  would  be  disposed  to  cavil. 

So  the  head  of  the  firm  of  Theobold  &  Co.  was 
still  all  smiles  as  he  settled  into  his  chair,  threw 
open  the  cover  to  his  desk,  wiped  the  perspiration 
from  his  face  in  leisurely  fashion,  and  turning  to 
the  tall  youth  who  stood  expectantly  at  his  elbow, 
remarked  quite  casually: 


10         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"It's  a  blame  sight  better  to  be  ahead  of  time 
than  behind  it,  Jack.  But  suppose  you  keep  that 
clock  neither  ahead  nor  behind  but  just  on  time. 
I  might  go  to  catch  a  train  by  it  sometime,  and 
lose  seventeen  minutes.  And  seventeen  minutes 
of  my  time  are  sometimes  valuable.  You  under- 
stand that,  I  think?" 

"Yes,  sir;  of  course.  I'll  set  the  clock  right 
away,  and  see  if  I  can't  regulate  it." 

"No;  don't  bother  about  it  now.  I  am  ex- 
pecting an  important  man  at  any  minute  along 
with  Doctor  Harris.  I  don't  want  to  be  disturbed. 
I  want  you  to  run  on  an  errand." 

He  stepped  toward  the  safe  that  stood  just  behind 
his  desk.  Jack  Henley  was  ahead  of  him  in  an 
instant  and  swung  open  the  heavy  door  of  the  safe. 

"Good  boy,  Jack.     Always  on  the  job." 

The  boy  looked  at  once  pleased  and  surprised. 
He  had  often  enough  opened  the  safe  for  Mr. 
Theobold,  but  he  could  not  recall  that  he  had  ever 
before  been  commended  for  so  doing.  Assuredly 
"the  boss"  was  in  unusual  mood  this  morning. 

Theobold  fumbled  among  the  papers  in  one  of 
the  pigeon-holes  and  selected  two  or  three  docu- 
ments covered  with  diagrams.  He  slipped  these 
into  a  long  envelope  and,  himself  sealing  the  en- 
velope, handed  it  to  the  boy. 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW  11 

"Take  that  over  and  hand  it  to  Senor  Cortez," 
he  said;  "or,  no;  hold  on.  He  won't  be  there 
yet.  These  greasers  are  slow-coaches  in  the 
morning.  Put  that  in  your  pocket,  and  run  up  to 
Mrs.  Theobold  at  the  house.  She  wants  to  see 
you  at  ten  o'clock  about  some  errand  or  other. 
On  the  way  back  you  can  go  to  Cortez's  office. 
I  fancy  he  will  be  there  by  the  time  you  get  back. 
If  he  isn't,  just  write  his  name  on  the  envelope  and 
slip  it  under  the  door.  Cortez  doesn't  seem  to 
find  it  necessary  to  make  an  early  start,  like  you 
and  me  and  the  other  young  fellows." 

He  grinned  at  his  implied  joke,  and  Jack 
grinned  responsively;  the  point  being  that  Cortez 
was  not  much  more  than  half  Theobold's  age. 

The  financier  made  a  further  comment  or  two 
that  to  Jack  seemed  of  not  altogether  obvious 
application,  but  to  which  he  paid  no  particular 
attention,  as  the  remarks  seemed  rather  by  way  of 
soliloquy. 

After  the  boy  left  the  office,  the  stout,  florid- 
faced  man  stood  for  a  few  moments  at  the  open 
window,  and  as  he  looked  out  on  the  varied 
architectural  panorama  his  face  assumed  an  ex- 
pression in  which  good  humour  was  perhaps 
tinged  with  sensuality,  and  he  mused  aloud: 
"  Maybe  I  wouldn't  go  to  business  quite  so  early 


12          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

either,  if  I  had  the  same  inducement  to  linger  at 
home  that  Cortez  has.  However — one  of  these 
days — they  all  have  their  price." 

He  walked  back  to  his  desk  and  began  fumbling 
the  morning  mail.  Several  letters  passed  under 
his  hand  with  automatic  precision,  a  pencil  check 
on  each  indicated  for  his  secretary  the  nature  of  the 
desired  answer.  But  his  mind  seemed  to  linger 
on  another  subject,  for  he  muttered:  "They  come 
high,  but  we  must  have  them.  If  one  must  pay, 
one  must,"  even  as  he  appeared  to  scrutinize  a 
letter  that  said  nothing  about  money,  but  only 
asked  the  use  of  his  name  on  some  philanthropic 
committee. 

Then  he  touched  an  electric  button,  and  a 
moment  later  Miss  Collins  appeared  at  the  door. 
He  still  seemed  to  scrutinize  the  letter  in  his  hand 
as  he  said: 

"I'll  take  you  to  lunch  with  me  to-day  if  you 
don't  mind,  Miss  Collins.  I  can  save  time  by 
telling  you  about  some  of  these  letters  there." 

Miss  Collins  gave  him  a  quizzical  look,  and  bit 
her  lip  to  keep  from  smiling. 

"Very  well,"  she  said. 

As  she  returned  to  her  desk,  she  glanced  across 
at  the  secretary. 

"Frank  certainly  looks  pretty  cross  now,"  she 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW  13 

mused,  "but  it  isn't  a  patch  on  the  way  he'll  look 
when  he  sees  me  going  out  to  lunch  with  the  boss." 

Then  the  smile  left  her  lips,  and  she  began  to 
realize  that  after  all  she  herself  did  not  look  for- 
ward to  the  lunch  hour  with  any  great  satisfaction. 
But  cart  ropes  and  wild  horses  could  not  have 
dragged  an  admission  to  that  effect  from  her — 
at  least  not  when  she  was  within  earshot  of  Frank 
Crosby. 

Crosby  himself,  a  tall  slender  young  man  with 
clean-cut  face  and  sparkling  eyes,  arose  a  moment 
later  and  came  over  to  her  desk. 

"See  here,  Cynthia,"  he  said,  "did  the  old  man 
ask  you  to  go  to  lunch  with  him  again?" 

"He  wants  to  talk  over  some  letters  and  busi- 
ness matters." 

"Business  matters!  A  whole  lot  business  has  to 
do  with  it.  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  say 
such  a  thing.  And  you  ought  to  know  better 
than  to  be  seen  going  to  lunch  with  a  man  like 
Theobold.  You  know  his  reputation." 

"Never  mind  that.  I  know  how  to  take  care 
of  myself,  too.  I  wouldn't  have  worked  up  from  a 
ten-dollar  job  to  where  I  am  if  I  didn't.  See 
here,  Frank  Crosby,  you  might  as  well  under- 
stand right  now  that  I  am  not  looking  for  you  to 
tell  me  what  I  can  do  and  what  I  can't.  While  I 


14         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

am  holding  down  a  job  like  this  I  must  put  up 
with  one  master,  but  I  won't  tolerate  two;  and 
you'd  better  understand  that  when  I  marry  you — 
if  I  ever  do — it  won't  be  with  the  idea  of  changing 
masters  but  of  giving  up  masters  altogether." 

Crosby's  face  flushed  and  his  voice  rose  strid- 
ently. 

"That's  all  right.  But  if  you  don't  stop  letting 
Theobold " 

At  that  instant  the  office  door  opened,  and  two 
men  entered  unannounced,  with  the  air  of  being 
expected.  Crosby  turned  toward  them  confus- 
edly, and  shook  hands  with  them  in  turn,  ad- 
dressing one  as  Doctor  Harris  and  the  other  as 
Captain  De  Lage. 

"Come  right  in.  Mr  Theobold  is  looking  for 
you,"  he  said,  leading  the  way  to  the  private  office. 

Then  he  resumed  his  seat  at  his  own  desk,  and 
bent  angrily  over  his  work  in  silence. 

Miss  Collins,  in  the  meantime,  hit  the  keys  of 
her  typewriter  with  needless  emphasis.  Once  or 
twice  she  paused  and  looked  up,  as  if  about  to 
speak.  But  she  seemingly  thought  better  of  it, 
and  maintained  what  might  be  termed  a  voiceful 
silence. 

Jack  Henley  glanced  wistfully  from  one  to  an- 
other as  if  he  cogitated  the  advisability  of  essay- 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW  15 

ing  the  role  of  peacemaker.  But  the  face  of  the 
secretary  did  not  suggest  that  the  time  was 
propitious;  so  Jack  said  nothing,  and  a  moody 
silence,  broken  only  by  the  spiteful  clatter  of  the 
typewriter,  reigned  in  the  outer  section  of  John 
Theobold's  private  office. 


CHAPTER  II 
A  Valuable  Autograph 

ATHEOBOLD  arose  to  greet  the  guests, 
his  face  wore  the  justly  celebrated  leather- 
mask  look  of  inscrutability. 

Far  be  it  from  a  great  magnate  to  show  that  he 
had  more  than  a  passing  interest  in  a  person — even 
a  captain  of  the  legions  of  France — who  had  merely 
come  for  the  purpose  of  paying  half  a  million  dollars 
for  a  signature — or,  to  be  quite  accurate,  to  make 
possible  such  payment  by  his  government. 

Such  a  transaction  might  seem  important  to  a 
mere  inventor,  like  Maximilian  Harris,  Ph.  D.,  or 
a  mere  captain  of  artillery  invalided  from  the 
trenches  just  before  the  signing  of  the  Armistice, 
and  detached  for  the  moment  for  diplomatic 
service;  but  to  a  great  financier — it  was  a  bagatelle. 

Theobold's  manner  expressed  all  of  this,  and 
more.  He  shook  the  hand  of  the  captain  with 
well-tempered  cordiality,  and  waved  the  inventor 
to  a  chair  with  an  air  intended  to  express  well-bred 
condescension.  Then  he  stood  with  his  thumbs 

16 


A  VALUABLE  AUTOGRAPH  17 

in  his  waistcoat  armholes,  regarding  the  visitors 
with  a  look  in  which  just  a  shade  of  dubiousness 
as  to  the  next  move  to  be  made  tended  to  break 
through  the  mask. 

Theobold  knew  very  well  the  value  of  an  impress- 
ive pause,  whether  one  is  about  to  address  two 
men  or  two  thousand. 

The  man  addressed  as  Doctor  Harris  perhaps 
scarcely  looked  the  part  of  the  remarkable  in- 
ventive genius  he  was  credited  with  being.  He 
was  rather  below  middle  height,  very  slender, 
with  high  cheek  bones  and  sunken  cheeks;  a  pleas- 
ing, thin-lipped  mouth  that  seemed  always  on  the 
verge  of  smiling;  large,  luminous  gray-blue  eyes 
that  would  have  given  him  the  aspect  of  a  dreamer 
but  for  the  rather  startling  effect  of  the  mass 
of  wavy  hair  pompadoured  above  the  high,  narrow 
forehead.  The  distinctly  pleasing  ensemble  sug- 
gested a  man  of  meditative  frame  of  mind,  imbued, 
however,  with  a  sense  of  nervous  energy  that  might 
readily  make  his  dreams  come  true.  And  this,  it 
would  appear,  was  precisely  what  he  had  done  in 
the  present  instance;  for  it  was  an  invention  of  his 
own  which  Theobold  had  financed  during  its 
experimental  stage,  and  which  a  representative 
of  the  French  Government  had  now  come  to 
America  to  purchase. 


18         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

The  official  intermediary  of  this  representative, 
on  whom  Theobold  now  focussed  his  glance  and 
whom  he  addressed  when  he  finally  saw  fit  to 
speak,  was  a  short,  pudgy  man,  like  a  reduced 
model  of  the  magnate  himself  as  to  figure,  but 
with  a  face  that  left  not  a  moment's  doubt  as  to 
his  nationality.  It  was  long  odds  that  Captain 
Garibaldi  De  Lage  prided  himself  on  his  re- 
semblance to  Marshal  Foch;  and  it  was  at  least 
even  money  that  he  felt  certain  that  chance  alone, 
rather  than  merit,  had  determined  that  the  man  he 
resembled  had  risen  to  supreme  command  while  he 
had  reached  only  a  captaincy. 

Nevertheless,  he  felt  himself  now  in  the  presence 
of  an  intellectual  superior;  and  in  any  event,  he  was 
here  for  a  diplomatic  purpose,  so  he  sat  impassive, 
meeting  the  financier's  eye  expectantly.  Presently 
Theobold  cleared  his  throat  and  spoke: 

"Captain  De  Lage,  I  want  you  to  say  to  the 
representative  of  your  government  that  Doctor 
Harris  and  I  are  practically  making  you  a  present 
of  the  Instantaneous  Range-Finder.  We  have 
devoted  years  of  time  and  thousands  of  dollars  of 
good  money  to  the  development  of  this  apparatus, 
which  will  revolutionize  warfare.  Imagine,  sir, 
the  importance  of  an  instrument  that  enables  you 
to  locate  the  exact  distance  of  an  enemy  to  the 


A  VALUABLE  AUTOGRAPH  19 

yard,  at  a  single  glance;  a  machine  that  not  only 
measures  but  registers  the  distance,  so  that  a  boy 
can  read  it,  and  the  poorest  gunner  can  aim  his 
cannon  with  absolute  accuracy. 

"  Oui,  Monsieur"  assented  the  Captain.  "  I  have 
seen  it  with  my  own  eyes.  It  is  magnifique.  But, 
Monsieur,  we  are  paying " 

Theobold  disregarded  the  interruption. 

"It  will  revolutionize  warfare,  I  tell  you,  or  go 
a  long  way  toward  making  war  impossible.  Think 
of  being  able  to  locate  the  exact  distance  of  a 
trench  when  only  a  single  gun  has  been  fired! 
Think  of  being  able  to  locate  instantly  the  distance 
of  a  submarine  that  comes  to  the  surface  for  a  mo- 
ment or  shows  only  its  periscope !  Yes,  and  think 
of  even  being  able  to  locate  the  distance  of  an  air- 
plane, like  the  one  that  will  be  flying  over  here  in 
half  an  hour!  You  can  measure  the  distance  of 
trenches  and  ships  with  your  old  apparatus,  if  you 
have  time  enough  and  space  enough  in  which  to 
work  it.  But  you  must  sight  from  different  places, 
compute  your  angles,  make  calculations!  Here 
is  a  machine  that  you  hold  in  your  hand,  that 
makes  the  calculation  for  you.  You  know  how  it 
was  when  you  had  taken  one  of  the  German 
trenches.  You  could  not  keep  it  because  the 
enemy  knew  the  exact  range  and  could  blow  the 


20         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

entire  trench  and  everything  in  it  into  atoms  long 
before  you  could  get  the  exact  range  of  the  enemy's 
gun- 

"It  is  true,  Monsieur,  I  have  seen  it.  Once 
there  at  Verdun " 

"Well,  you  won't  see  it  any  more,  after  you  men 
are  equipped  with  the  instantaneous  range-finder. 
In  the  next  war  you  will  locate  the  enemy's  bat- 
teries in  the  wink  of  an  eye.  And  that  isn't  all: 
You  will  get  the  range  of  their  airships,  too ;  and  you 
can  put  their  entire  fleet  of  submarines  out  of 
commission !  Every  merchant  ship  should  carry  a 
small  cannon,  and  one  of  our  range-finders,  and 
you  can  drop  an  explosive  bomb  right  beside  the 
periscope  the  minute  it  shows.  Doctor  " — Theo- 
bold  turned  to  the  inventor,  who  was  shifting  a 
bit  uneasily  in  his  chair,  evidently  wishing  the 
monologue  might  come  to  an  end,  and  the  business 
of  signing  papers  be  substituted,  but  who  was  much 
too  diplomatic  to  say  so — "Doctor,  you  will  show 
the  Captain  what  the  range-finder  can  do  when  that 
fool  bomb-dropping  airplane  flies  over  this  morn- 
ing, won't  you?" 

"I  have  seen  what  it  can  do,  Monsieur.  I  have 
seen  it  again  and  again.  I  am  well  satisfy.  We 
have  stood  on  the  buildings  of  monsieur  the 
Doctor's  laboratory  and  have  measured  everything 


A  VALUABLE  AUTOGRAPH  21 

you  can  see  for  miles  around,  and  I  had  the 
measurements  verified  from  the  map.  I  am 
satisfy.  It  is  a  large  sum,  but  France  is  generous; 
it  is  her  pleasure  to  reward  genius.  We  will 

pay- 

"Pay?  Why,  man  alive,  we  aren't  asking  any 
pay.  We  are  making  a  present  of  the  range-finder 
to  the  government  of  France  because  she  was  our 
associate  in  the  World  War.  It's  the  other  inven- 
tion we  are  selling  you,  and  we  accept  a  paltry 
three  quarter  million  merely  as  part  compensa- 
tion for  our  time.  You  will  readily  understand, 
sir,  that  the  time  of  a  man  in  my  position  is  val- 
uable. Why,  sir,  in  an  hour's  time " 

"Exactly  so,  Monsieur,  exactly  so.  We  intrude, 
I  feel  that  we  intrude.  But  let  us  not  take  more  of 
your  time.  Let  us  sign  the  documents.  I  will 
then  take  them  to  my  chief.  He  is  to  meet  us  at 
Doctor  Harris's  office  at  10  o'clock.  Even  now  we 
shall  have  no  more  than  time  to  reach  him.  I  will 
leave  the  duplicate  copy  with  Doctor  Harris  and  he 
can  return  it  to  you.  The  other  copy  I  will  take  to 
our  ambassador  at  Washington,  and  within  a  week 
the  money  will  be  in  your  hands.  But  we  must  be 
at  Doctor  Harris's  office  to  meet  my  chief  at  10 
o'clock.  Shall  we  not  sign  the  papers  at  once?" 

The  force  of  this  argument  appealed  to  the 


22          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

magnate.  He  glanced  at  the  clock  and — for- 
getting that  it  was  ahead  of  time — noted  that  it 
lacked  but  a  quarter  of  ten.  He  stepped  briskly  to 
the  safe,  which  was  still  standing  open,  and  returned 
with  two  official-looking  documents.  These  he  laid 
on  the  table  for  the  inventor  and  the  military  expert. 

"Here  we  are,"  he  said,  lapsing  into  business- 
like curtness.  "We  went  all  over  it  last  time,  so 
there  is  nothing  to  do  now  but  put  down  our  John 
Hancocks.  Go  ahead,  Captain.  Shall  I  send  for 
a  notary?" 

"No,  no,  this  must  all  be  done  very  secretly. 
We  can  trust  no  one.  Even  now  there  are  spies 
everywhere.  But  the  word  of  a  captain  in  the 
French  Army  is  as  good  as  a  note  of  the  Bank  of 
France.  See!  There  is  my  name  on  the  paper. 
The  money  is  already  yours." 

"I'll  just  have  my  office  boy  witness  it,  to  make 
it  legal,  along  with  the  Doctor  here.  He'll  know 
nothing  about  what's  in  it,"  said  Theobold,  touch- 
ing a  bell. 

In  half  a  minute  the  signature  of  Doctor  Harris 
and  that  of  Theobold's  were  added,  and  after 
Jack  had  signed  his  name  the  Captain  had  placed 
the  documents  in  his  pocket. 

"Now  we  must  say  au  revoir,  Monsieur.  We 
must  not  be  late." 


A  VALUABLE  AUTOGRAPH  23 

Theobold  glanced  again  at  the  clock,  and  now  he 
remembered.  "Oh,  you  have  lots  of  time,"  he 
said.  "My  car  is  at  the  door  and  will  take  you 
over  in  a  jiffy.  It's  only  about  two  miles,  and 
there  isn't  much  traffic  if  you  go  down  the  Bowery 
and  over  the  Williamsburg  Bridge.  See  here!" 

Stepping  to  the  window,  he  beckoned  the  Captain 
to  his  side.  "We  used  to  be  able  to  see  the 
doctor's  laboratory — or  the  building  it  is  in — from 
this  window,  until  they  put  up  that  skyscraper 
between  us  just  across  Broadway  there.  It  needed 
a  telescope,  of  course,  but  on  a  clear  day  the  doctor 
and  I  could  almost  shake  hands — through  a  tele- 
scope. It  is  something  less  than  three  miles  by  the 
cyclometer,  and  as  I  said  it  isn't  much  over  two 
as  the  crow  flies.  But  a  few  months  ago  they  put 
up  that  skyscraper  that  has  it  on  us  by  three  or 
four  stories;  and  now  we  can't  see  each  other  until 
the  doc  invents  his  X-ray  telescope.  When  are 
you  going  to  get  at  that,  Doc?  An  X-ray  tele- 
scope would  be  worth  at  least  a  million,  wouldn't 
it,  Captain?" 

The  magnate's  good  humour  had  reached  such  a 
point  that  he  was  now  waxing  facetious.  As  the 
documents  were  actually  signed,  he  had  no  longer 
need  to  wear  his  business  face.  He  was  effervescing 
like  a  schoolboy  who  has  won  his  first  prize,  for  he 


24          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

felt  that  he  had  the  long  end  of  the  bargain.  Not- 
withstanding his  grandiloquent  words,  Theobold 
had  no  genuine  belief  that  either  of  the  inventions 
would  revolutionize  warfare,  or  indeed  come  any- 
where near  it.  He  knew  that  range-finders  have 
long  existed  that  serve  an  admirable  purpose  in 
ordinary  warfare.  What  he  knew  of  submarines 
did  not  lead  him  to  suppose  that  even  their  peri- 
scopes are  usually  visible  until  after  they  have  dis- 
charged their  torpedoes.  And  he  had  imagination 
enough  to  realize  that  even  if  the  instantaneous 
range-finder  could  take  and  record  the  location  of 
an  airplane  at  any  given  moment,  the  airplane, 
travelling  a  mile  a  minute,  would  be  at  a  quite 
different  range  before  a  gun  could  be  sighted. 

Then,  quite  incidentally,  he  knew  very  well  that 
this  range-finder  would  do  none  of  the  things 
claimed  for  it,  but  could  only  be  used  by  a  trained 
hand  in  connection  with  an  electric  device.  The 
Captain,  as  it  happened,  was  equally  well  informed 
in  the  matter,  so,  after  all,  his  speech  was  neither 
here  nor  there.  The  other  device — the  smoke- 
consumer  and  sound-silencer — was  what  they  were 
actually  selling,  and  what  the  French  Government 
was  willing  to  buy.  But  there  were  reasons  why 
the  financier  did  not  want  that  fact  recognized  in 
the  legal  document. 


A  VALUABLE  AUTOGRAPH  25 

The  main  point  was  that  the  thing  had  been 
arranged  quite  to  his  satisfaction,  in  such  terms 
that  no  court  could  fathom  the  real  significance  of 
the  transaction — and  he  had  stood  out  success- 
fully for  three  quarters  of  a  million. 

The  promoter's  face  was  still  beaming  as  he 
accompanied  his  visitors  to  the  door  and  told  his 
secretary  to  escort  them  to  the  automobile  and 
give  directions  to  the  chauffeur. 

"Don't  forget  to  take  a  glimpse  at  the  flying 
lady  with  the  range-finder,"  was  his  parting  com- 
ment. "She  must  be  leaving  about  now,  and 
she'll  be  going  over  this  part  of  town  by  the  time 
you  get  to  the  laboratory." 

Miss  Collins,  was  alone  in  the  office  when  Theo- 
bold  returned,  Jack  Henley  having  just  started  on 
the  errands.  The  financier  stopped  a  moment  at 
her  desk. 

"Don't  forget  you  are  lunching  with  me  at  one," 
he  said.  "I  turned  rather  a  pretty  trick  this 
morning,  and  we  can  afford  to  have  all  we  want  to 
eat."  His  good  humour  was  wont  to  express 
itself  in  a  kind  of  heavy  jocularity.  "But  now 
you  had  better  go  up  on  the  roof  and  have  a  look 
at  the  bird  lady.  I  see  people  are  gathering  on 
the  roofs  all  about  us.  Tell  the  girls  in  the  big 
office  they  may  go  if  they  want  to.  If  you  get 


26         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

back  by  ten,   it  will   be   time   to   take   up  the 
dictation." 

As  Captain  De  Lage  and  Doctor  Harris  drove 
away  in  Theobold's  motor,  their  faces  gave  evi- 
dence of  suppressed  elation. 

"Eet  is  one  fine  morning's  work,"  remarked  the 
Frenchman. 

"Not  bad,"  said  Doctor  Harris,  laconically. 

"Monsieur  Theobold  has  made  a  good  bargain 
for  himself  also." 

"He  always  does.  No  one  ever  knew  him  to  get 
the  worst  of  a  bargain — at  least  when  he  was  bar- 
gaining with  men.  With  women — well,  that  is 
different.  That's  his  blind  spot." 

"Blind  spot?  But  no;  he  has  a  good  eye  for 
women.  Have  I  not  seen  the  charming  made- 
moiselle his  stenographer?" 

The  Captain's  eyes  sparkled.  He  twirled  his 
moustache  as  he  continued: 

"Did  you  notice  her  this  morning,  Monsieur, 
when  we  entered?  She  was  as  beautiful  as  a  red 
rose.  But  she  was  very  angry.  And  Monsieur 
Crosby,  the  secretary,  his  face  was  like  a  cloud  of 
war.  And  he  spoke  Theobold's  name  just  as  we 
interrupted  their  quarrel." 

"A  mighty  nice  girl,  Miss  Collins.  And  Crosby 
is  a  mighty  nice  fellow.  They're  engaged,  I  take 


A  VALUABLE  AUTOGRAPH  27 

it,  and  Crosby  is  jealous,  like  every  other  lover. 
Miss  Collins  doesn't  care  a  snap  of  her  finger  for 
Theobold,  but  of  course  she  knows  which  side  her 
bread  is  buttered  on,  and  she  has  to  be  decent  to 
him;  and  that  makes  Crosby  mad.  A  bully  chap, 
but  with  an  ugly  temper." 

"And  the  lady  cares  for  Crosby — I  can  see  that. 
Ah,  I  envy  him.  And  if  I  were  in  his  place,  I  would 
teach  Monsieur  Theobold  to  mind  his  own  affairs." 

"  That  sounds  all  right.  But  it  isn't  so  easy  when 
a  man  is  your  boss,  and  handles  the  purse  strings." 

"Even  so,  there  is  a  way,  and  I  would  find  it. 
So  will  Crosby,  I  predict." 

The  inventor  seemed  to  turn  the  matter  over  in 
his  mind. 

"I  wouldn't  be  surprised,  the  way  he  looked  this 
morning,"  he  said,  presently.  "He  sure  did  have  a 
grouch  on.  But  it's  no  affair  of  ours.  We  have 
other  fish  to  fry." 

"Quite  true,  Monsieur.  It  is  no  affair  of  ours — 
malheureusement  non, "  he  added,  reflectively,  with  a 
sigh.  "But  I  envy  the  secretary.  Mademoi- 
selle is — what  you  say — a  pomme,  mais  non,  a 
peach.  For  her  I  would  cross  swords  with  Mon- 
sieur Theobold  tres  voluntairement — or  with  Mon- 
sieur Crosby  either." 

"Forget  it,  Captain;  forget  it.     I  tell  you  we 


28         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

have  other  fish  to  fry,"  said  the  inventor,  with  a 
trace  of  irritation  in  his  voice,  in  contrast  with  its 
customary  monotone  of  imperturbability. 

"Feesh  to  fry?  I  do  not  comprehend.  We 
have  no  feesh — Ah,  yes,  yes,  now  I  understand.  It 
is  only  your  droll  langue  Americaine.  Monsieur 
does  not  mean  real  feesh;  he  means  only  ieeshimagi- 
naire.  I  have  lived  in  London,  and  the  English 
language  I  know.  But  your  language  Americaine, 
I  shall  never  learn  eet.  Eet  is  ires  drole." 

"Well,  it's  a  droll  world,  Captain.  But  it 
seems  to  be  wobbling  our  way  this  morning. 
We've  got  the  old  man  lashed  to  the  mast,  and 
after  we  clean  up  on  this  deal,  you  can  scuttle  the 
ship  if  you  want  to,  and  rescue  the  fair  Miss  Collins 
and  take  her  away  on  the  yacht  you'll  be  able  to 
buy  with  your  share  of  the  pirate  money." 

The  Captain  regarded  his  companion  with  an 
expression  that  seemed  to  combine  astonishment 
and  despair.  He  shook  his  head,  shrugged  his 
shoulders,  and  raised  his  hands  in  the  characteris- 
tic gesture  of  deprecation. 

"It  is  useless,  Monsieur;  it  is  useless,"  he  mur- 
mured. "In  one  thousand  years  I  shall  never 
comprehend  the  language  Americaine.  But  to  be 
with  the  beautiful  mademoiselle  on  a  yacht — that 
I  can  understand.  That  would  be  magnifique." 


CHAPTER  III 
An  Object  Lesson  with  a  Sequel 

MISS  Sylvia  Lawson,  the  aviatrix,  doing 
her  part  in  the  celebration  in  honour 
of  the   triumphant  home-comers,  had 
promised  to  give  New  Yorkers  something  really, 
worth  while  in  the  way  of  an  airplane  exhibit. 

She  kept  her  promise.  Acting  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Aero  Club  of  America,  and  with  a 
special  dispensation  from  the  terrestrial  powers, 
she  flew  over  New  York  that  July  morning;  circled 
about  above  half  of  the  city;  zigzagged  from  the 
Battery  to  Central  Park  and  back  again,  going 
higher  and  higher  until  to  the  onlookers  in  the 
street  and  on  the  tops  of  the  buildings  the  bird- 
like  airplane  seemed  no  bigger  than  a  swallow; 
and  she  sent  out  a  never-ending  shower  of 
messages  in  the  form  of  tiny  wooden  arrows, 
packages  of  confetti,  miniature  torpedoes,  and 
sundry  printed  slips  so  shaped  that  they  fluttered 
and  darted  about  in  the  air  like  myriads  of  butter- 
flies as  they  gradually  settled  through  the  mile  or 

29 


30         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

so  of  space  that  separated  the  aspiring  aviatrix 
from  her  audience. 

Her  chief  "  stunt,"  however,  consisted  in  drop- 
ping imitation  bombs  that  were  timed  to  explode 
harmlessly  but  with  much  noise  a  few  hundred  feet 
above  the  housetops. 

It  is  unlikely  that  Miss  Sylvia  herself  was  en- 
cumbered with  any  overweening  sense  of  duty  to- 
ward her  fellow  citizens  in  making  this  spectacular 
exhibit.  She  probably  thought  that  it  would  be  a 
jolly  good  lark  to  make  such  a  flight  in  the  eyes  of 
a  million  or  two  of  her  townspeople  and  no  doubt 
had  an  eye  to  the  admirable  advertising  quality  of 
the  spectacle  when  properly  interpreted  in  the 
vernacular  of  her  press  agent. 

But  whatever  her  anticipations,  the  exhibition 
had  one  result  that  she  had  not  predicted — it 
landed  her  in  jail  that  night,  on  a  charge  of  man- 
.  slaughter. 

This  suggests  that  the  graphic  lesson  in  bomb- 
'dropping  had  certain  realistic  features  that  were 
not  recorded  in  the  original  programme.  Miss 
Sylvia  had  not  intended  to  kill  anybody.  She 
lhad  meant  merely  to  show  how  easy  it  would  be  to 
1  kill  a  lot  of  people  if  she  were  the  emissary  of  an 
invading  army  and  the  people  were  her  enemies. 

The  missiles  she  launched  had  been  selected  with 


AN  OBJECT  LESSON  31 

great  care  for  their  innocuousness,  and  if  any  one 
had  told  her  that  death  might  lurk  in  one  of  them, 
she  would  have  thought  it  a  joke. 

"Gee-whiz!"  she  would  probably  have  said. 
"What  are  you  giving  us?  Tell  that  to  the 
marines." 

But  then  Miss  Sylvia  had  probably  never  made  a 
profound  study  of  physics.  Being  an  aviatrix,  she 
must  have  given  some  thought  to  falling  bodies; 
but  chiefly,  doubtless,  with  reference  to  the  dan- 
ger to  craft  and  pilot,  were  they  to  fall,  rather 
than  to  the  hazards  of  the  wayfarers  on  terra 
firma.  She  was  very  likely  unaware  that  a  falling 
body  acquires  speed  and  momentum  at  an 
alarming  geometrical  ratio,  and  that  even  a  very 
small  object  dropped  from  the  height  of  a  mile 
or  two  will  acquire  the  velocity  and  force  of  a 
rifle  bullet  by  the  time  it  reaches  the  earth's 
surface. 

But  if  the  aviatrix  did  not  think  of  these  things, 
there  were  those  among  her  audience  who  did. 
For  example,  a  young  man  with  a  blond  com- 
plexion and  a  German  accent  who  stood  next  to 
Miss  Collins  in  the  midst  of  a  scattered  company 
on  the  roof  of  the  Schuyler  Building,  where  she 
had  gone  to  view  the  exhibit. 

"I  tell  you  it  is  downright  dangerous,"  the  man 


32          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

was  saying,  as  along  with  the  others  he  craned  his 
neck,  peering  straight  upward  to  the  height  where 
the  airplane  soared  and  circled.  "Why,  if  she 
happens  to  lose  a  glove  button  or  a  hairpin,  she 
might  as  well  shoot  at  us  with  a  pistol." 

His  companion  laughed. 

"Don't  take  it  so  seriously,  Mr.  Schwartz,"  she 
said.  "There's  a  whole  lot  of  space  on  the  tops  of 
these  buildings  and  in  the  streets,  and  you  could 
drop  a  good  many  hairpins  without  hitting  any- 
body." 

"I  know  you  could.  But  that  wouldn't  make 
it  any  better  for  the  one  person  it  did  hit.  The 
hairpin  would  go  through  you  just  like  one  of  those 
aerial  darts  they  used  over  in  Europe  during  the 
war.  A  fellow  would  never  know  what  hit  him. 
And  if  the  littlest  bolt  or  nut  were  to  work  loose 
and  drop  off  the  machine,  I'll  wager  it  would  go 
through  the  roof  of  this  building,  even  though  it  is 
made  of  reenforced  concrete." 

The  girl  shrugged  her  shoulders  and  assumed  an 
aspect  of  mock  gravity. 

"All  hands  to  the  bomb-proof  cellar!  I  didn't 
know  I  was  going  to  war  when  I  came  up  here  to 
see  the  show.  I'm  glad  our  offices  are  two  flights 
down.  You  don't  suppose  anything  will  drop 
through  as  far  as  we  are,  do  you?  Anyhow,  I  must 


AN  OBJECT  LESSON  33 

beat  a  retreat,  for  there  is  some  dictation  due  and  if 
I'm  not  on  hand  there  will  be  a  worse  explosion  in 
the  office  than  if  a  basketful  of  bombs  came  down 
from  that  airplane." 

This  remark  seemingly  brought  the  ideas  of  the 
young  man  down  from  aerial  heights  to  mundane 
affairs,  for  he  caught  his  companion  by  the  sleeve 
as  she  started  to  go  and  detained  her. 

"Hold  on  a  minute,  Miss  Collins.  How  about 
lunching  with  me  to-day?" 

"Not  to-day.  Got  another  date — with  a  man 
who  isn't  afraid  of  hairpins,"  she  bantered,  as  she 
ran  down  the  stairway. 

A  minute  or  so  later  the  girl  reentered  a  door  on 
the  fifteenth  floor  bearing  the  legend  "Theobold 
&  Co."  Its  sole  occupant  at  the  moment  was 
Frank  Crosby  who  did  not  raise  his  eyes  from  the 
books  at  which  he  was  working,  but  only  waved 
his  hand  with  irritating  brusqueness  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Theobold's  office. 

"He  rang  the  bell  for  you  five  minutes  ago,"  he 
muttered. 

"Did  he?  I  thought  it  wasn't  quite  time.  I 
was  up  looking  at  the  bird-machine  drop  bombs  on 
us.  That  man  from  the  office  next  door  was  try- 
ing to  tell  me  that  they  would  muss  us  up  a  whole 
lot  if  they  hit  us.  He  said  that  even  if  a  hairpin 


34         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

dropped  from  up  there  in  the  clouds,  it  would  kill 
a  man." 

"Hairpins  may  be  compromising  on  occasion, 
but  I  never  thought  them  dangerous.  Here  is 
one  that  the  gypsy  dropped  when  she  was  in  here 
a  little  while  ago." 

The  man  had  glanced  up  furtively  as  he  in- 
dicated the  hairpin,  but  turned  instantly  to  his 
books,  apparently  absorbed  in  his  work  even  as  he 
spoke. 

The  girl  turned  quickly.  She  had  taken  up  her 
notebook  and  pencil,  and  was  starting  for  the 
door,  but  she  stopped  abruptly,  and  her  voice 
was  keyed  a  trifle  higher  as  she  said: 

"The  gypsy!     Was  she  here  again?" 

"Surest  thing  you  know.  She  was  closeted 
with  the  boss  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Looked  a 
bit  excited  when  she  came  out,  too.  The  boss 
came  with  her  clear  to  the  outer  door.  He  seemed 
to  be  peeved  about  something  when  he  came  back, 
so  you  had  better  mind  your  p's  and  q's  this 
morning." 

"Huh!  I  don't  need  any  advice  about  that; 
certainly  not  from  you,  Frank  Crosby." 

The  girl's  face  flushed  as  she  snapped  out  the 
words  in  a  tone  of  defiance.  Yet  the  wistfulness  of 
her  eyes  belied  her  manner.  She  paused  a  moment, 


AN  OBJECT  LESSON  35 

and  seemed  on  the  point  of  saying  something  more; 
then  suddenly  turned  and  opened  the  door  marked! 
"No  Admission." 

Glancing  back  over  her  shoulder  she  tossed  her 
head  contemptuously  and  passed  through  the  door- 
way. The  man  had  been  watching  her  intently 
though  he  had  only  partly  raised  his  head.  His 
face  was  very  pale,  emphasizing,  by  contrast,  the 
blackness  of  his  eyes. 

An  instant  later  the  girl  re-appeared  a  trans- 
formed figure,  her  face  blanched,  her  eyes  staring, 
her  hands  extended  in  horror,  the  notebook  and 
pencil  clashing  to  the  floor. 

"Frank,"  she  gasped.  "Frank!  Come  here 
quick!  He's  been  killed!" 

The  secretary  was  on  his  feet  in  an  instant,  and 
close  beside  the  girl,  with  his  arm  instinctively 
about  her,  staring  with  her  into  the  private  office 
where  John  Theobold,  senior  member  of  the  firm 
of  Theobold  &  Co.,  lay  flat  on  his  face,  his  head 
against  the  wall  beneath  the  open  window,  his 
arms  outstretched,  one  pallid  hand  resting  in  a  pool 
of  blood.  A  glance  at  the  figure  told  the  story.  It 
needed  no  expert,  no  test  of  pulse  or  breathing,  to 
certify  that  John  Theobold  was  dead. 


CHAPTER  IV 
The  Official  Verdict 

BUT  of  course  the  experts  were  summoned  in 
all  haste.  With  various  gradations  of  haste 
they  appeared — an  entire  troupe  of  them. 

The  officious,  bustling  ambulance  surgeon,  most 
arrogant  of  all  uniformed  beings,  arrived  almost 
simultaneously  with  the  quiet,  unostentatious 
family  physician  and  a  policeman.  A  coroner's 
physician,  a  detective,  and  an  inspector  of  police 
appeared  a  little  later. 

Meantime  a  bevy  of  girls  and  men  from  the 
neighbouring  offices  were  grouped  about  the  door, 
with  scared,  questioning  faces,  whispering  or 
mumbling  inquiries  in  subdued  tones. 

The  family  physician,  seeing  at  a  glance  that 
nothing  could  be  done,  made  way  courteously  for 
the  ambulance  surgeon,  who  knelt,  ostentatiously, 
and  pressed  a  stethoscope  to  the  back  of  the  fallen 
figure.  He  shrugged  his  shoulders  casually,  as  if 
to  indicate  that  mere  death  was  nothing  to  get 
•excited  about  for  a  man  of  his  experience.  He 

3d 


THE  OFFICIAL  VERDICT  37 

inspected  the  pool  of  blood  by  the  man's  hand  and 
the  stream  that  trickled  out  to  it  from  beneath 
the  body,  with  a  glance  at  once  critical  and  un- 
concerned. Then,  as  he  arose,  he  nodded  con- 
descendingly to  the  nearest  policeman. 

"Your  case,  officer,"  he  said.  "Nothing  for  me 
to  do  here.  So  long."  And  with  due  pomp  and 
ceremony  he  made  his  exit. 

Meantime  the  family  physician,  who  chanced 
to  have  earned  a  national  reputation  before  the 
ambulance  surgeon  was  born,  had  been  standing 
quietly  in  the  background,  obviously  studying  the 
situation.  Presently  he  turned  to  Miss  Collins, 
the  stenographer,  who,  thoroughly  composed, 
was  hovering  on  the  outskirts  of  the  official 
coterie. 

"How  did  it  happen?"  he  asked. 

"Nobody  knows.  I  came  in  to  take  dictation, 
and  found  him  lying  here  just  as  you  see  him.  No- 
body had  been  with  him  this  morning  except 
Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage,  who  went 
away  half  an  hour  before,  and  a  woman  who  left 
ten  minutes  or  so  ago.  He  went  with  her  to  the 
door.  After  that  he  was  in  here  alone.  He  must 
have  leaned  out  of  the  window  to  look  at  the  air- 
plane, and  been  struck  by  a  bomb." 

"A  bomb?" 


38          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Well,  anyhow,  something  that  dropped  from 
the  airplane.  There  were  little  torpedoes  and 
things  falling  on  the  roof  up  there,  and  they  struck 
like  bullets.  A  man  told  me  that  even  a  hairpin 
or  a  glove  button  dropped  from  way  up  there  would 
kill  any  one.  I  don't  see  what  else  could  have 
happened  for  there  was  no  one  here." 

One  of  the  policemen  interrupted: 

"Wasn't  any  one  in  the  outer  office?" 

"No  one  but  Mr.  Theobold's  private  secretary, 
Mr.  Crosby."  She  indicated  the  dark-haired  young 
man.  "Everyone  else  was  up  on  the  roof  watch- 
ing the  flying  machine." 

The  policeman,  Finnigan  by  name,  turned  to 
the  secretary: 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  you  didn't  see  the  guy 
that  did  the  shooting?" 

"The  shooting?" 

"Sure;  the  shooting.  Don't  you  see  the  blood? 
And  don't  you  see  that  hole  in  the  back  of  his  coat? 
Someone  put  a  bullet  through  him.  And  who's 
to  know  who  did  it  if  not  the  only  feller  that  was 
handy  by?  Come,  come,  me  boy;  out  with  it; 
what  have  you  done  with  the  gun?" 

"My  God,  officer,  you  don't  think  I — you  don't 
know  what  you  are  saying." 

"I  know  what  I'm  saying,  all  right.     And  it's  a 


THE  OFFICIAL  VERDICT  39 

close  eye  I'll  keep  on  you  until  the  Inspector  gets 
here.  He'll  attend  to  your  case." 

"But,  officer,"  broke  in  Miss  Collins,  in  obvious 
alarm,  "Mr.  Theobold  wasn't  shot.  He  was  hit 
by  a  bomb  that  came  from  that  airplane." 

"Air-nothing.  What  do  you  take  me  for? 
Do  you  suppose  a  cock-and-bull  story  like  that  will 
go  down?  Not  with  Finnigan.  You  may  be  just 
fooling,  young  lady,  or  you  may  be  in  cahoots  with 
this  man  here,  but  you  can't  get  away  with  that 
kind  of  a  story.  Our  young  friend  here  will  tell 
what  he  knows  or  go  to  the  jug.  And  the 
sooner  he  tells  his  story  the  better  it  will  be  for 
him." 

At  this  moment  the  Inspector  arrived,  and  with 
him  came  a  plain-clothes  man,  who,  as  it  presently 
transpired,  was  the  big-gun  detective  of  the  pre- 
cinct, Mel  McFalcon  by  name;  an  athletically  built 
man  with  steel-blue  eyes  that  conveyed  the  im- 
pression of  penetrating  all  he  looked  at  with  an 
X-ray  type  of  scrutiny.  The  two  had  been 
watching  the  airplane  exhibit  from  the  top  of  the 
police  station  over  in  31st  Street  when  the  murder 
call  had  been  turned  in. 

The  Inspector  glanced  casually  about  the  room. 
His  eyes  rested  on  the  prostrate  body  for  a  fraction 
of  a  second,  and  he  queried:  "What  you  got, 


40          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Finnigan?"  The  Inspector  was  a  man  of  few 
words. 

"A  case  of  sunstroke,  according  to  our  young 
friend  here."  He  leered  disagreeably  and  tapped 
Crosby  on  the  shoulder.  "This  guy  was  in  the 
outside  office,  but  didn't  see  no  one  go  in  or  out. 
Didn't  hear  no  shots.  All  the  same  here  lies  our 
old  friend  with  a  bullet  hole  through  him,  dead  as  a 
door  nail.  Never  knew  a  sunstroke  to  happen 
just  like  that  before,  did  you,  Inspector?" 

"How  do  you  know  the  shot  didn't  come 
through  the  window?" 

"The  young  lady  here  says  it  did  come  through 
the  window,  but  she  claims  it  wasn't  a  shot.  She 
has  it  doped  out  that  the  young  woman  in  the 
flying  machine  dropped  a  bomb  on  our  old  friend." 

Miss  Collins  interrupted. 

"He  must  have  been  leaning  out  of  the  window. 
Everyone  was  looking  at  the  airplane.  You  saw 
things  dropping,  didn't  you?" 

"By  Jove!"  broke  in  the  detective,  whose  face 
hitherto  had  worn  a  somewhat  bored  expression. 
"This  looks  as  if  it  might  be  interesting,  after  all. 
You  remember  what  I  was  telling  you,  Inspector?  " 

He  leaned  over  and  examined  critically  a  little 
hole  in  the  dead  man's  coat,  just  over  the  left 
shoulder.  Then  he  lifted  the  body  partly  and 


THE  OFFICIAL  VERDICT  41 

peered  under  the  right  side,  where  a  larger  hole 
showed,  just  below  the  lapel  of  the  coat,  from 
which  blood  was  oozing. 

"Went  plumb  through  him,  sure  as  shooting,'* 
was  his  comment. 

He  meditated  a  moment,  then  arose  and  leaned 
out  of  the  window.  Turning  his  head,  he  re- 
garded his  own  shoulder  critically. 

"Guess  that's  about  the  way  it  happened, 
Inspector.  Turned  his  head  like  this  to  the  left, 
to  watch  the  flying  machine.  That  twisted  his 
body  a  little;  and  the  thing  in  dropping  struck  him 
in  the  shoulder,  coming  out  through  the  right 
breast.  He  probably  never  knew  what  hit  him. 
Just  about  an  even  dice  whether  he  took  a  Brodie 
from  the  window  or  toppled  back  into  the  room 
here." 

The  Inspector  nodded  approvingly,  and  Mc- 
Falcon  rubbed  his  hands  together  with  an  air  of 
satisfaction,  as  one  who  had  again  vindicated  his 
reputation. 

But  the  case  was  not  to  be  settled  so  easily,  for 
Finnigan  also  had  a  reputation  to  sustain,  only 
second  to  that  of  McFalcon,  and  he  had  already 
committed  himself  to  another  line  of  reasoning. 
So  he  assumed  a  very  fair  imitation  of  a  con- 
temptuous sneer  as  he  said: 


42          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Holy  smoke!  Do  you  fall  for  that  kind  of 
bunk!" 

"Bunk  nothing!  That's  what  happened.  And 
it's  lucky  that  a  lot  of  other  guys  didn't  get  theirs 
in  the  same  way.  A  pretty  kettle  of  fish,  letting 
that  skirt  go  up  there  and  chuck  things  down  on 
us.  Might  as  well  be  at  war  and  done  with  it." 

The  Inspector  stepped  to  the  telephone  and 
called  the  police  station. 

"Hello!  That  you,  Mike?  Pinch  that  skirt  that 
did  stunts  in  the  sky  as  soon  as  she  lands  .  .  . 
Never  mind  that.  Just  get  her  in  the  jug  until 
I  see  her." 

Thus  it  happened  that  Miss  Sylvia  Lawson 
spent  that  night  in  jail  instead  of  celebrating  her 
successful  demonstration  with  a  company  of  ad- 
miring friends  as  she  had  planned.  However,  she 
did  not  at  the  moment  know  the  gravity  of  the 
charge  against  her,  thinking  that  she  had  probably 
violated  some  city  ordinance  against  making  a 
noise  on  Tuesday,  or  what  not;  and  she  reflected 
philosophically  that  a  record  of  a  night  in  the 
station  house  would  not  lessen  the  theatrical 
effect  of  the  story  of  her  day's  adventure. 

Meanwhile,  though  overruled,  Finnigan  was 
apparently  by  no  means  convinced. 

"  McFalcon's  usually  right,"  he  muttered.   "  But 


THE  OFFICIAL  VERDICT  43 

that  looks  mighty  like  a  bullet  hole  to  me,  all  the 
same." 

He  was  scrutinizing  every  part  of  the  room  hi 
search  of  a  bullet  hole.  The  missile  had  evidently 
gone  clear  through  its  victim,  and  must  have 
lodged  somewhere.  But  Finnigan  could  find  no 
trace  of  it.  He  stood  by  his  colours,  however,  and 
said  aloud: 

"My  guess  is  that  the  fellow  was  standing  by 
the  window  and  looking  out  all  right,  and  that 
someone  shot  him  in  the  back.  And  I  think  I 
know  who  the  someone  is." 

He  gave  a  meaning  glance  in  the  direction  of 
Crosby,  who  met  his  glance  with  a  look  that  might 
have  been  interpreted  as  defiance  or  anger  or 
bravado,  though  his  face  was  very  pale  and  his 
hands  were  clenched. 

"Forget  it,  Finnigan,"  said  the  detective. 
"Don't  you  see  that  the  hole  in  the  man's  back  is 
way  above  that  at  the  front?  If  any  one  shot  him 
from  behind  while  he  was  standing  here,  he  would 
have  to  be  a  giant  about  twelve  feet  tall.  Or  do 
you  think  he  was  hanging  from  the  ceiling  by  the 
lamp  bracket?" 

McFalcon  was  waxing  sarcastic.  He  had  a 
rather  ugly  temper,  and  he  could  brook  no  rivalry 
in  his  own  field  in  the  presence  of  his  chief. 


44          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"I  guess  you're  off  the  track,  Finnigan,"  said 
the  Inspector  with  customary  laconicism. 

Finnigan  made  no  direct  reply.  But  snatches  of 
muttered  sentences  that  fell  from  his  lips  from 
time  to  .time  showed  that  he  held  to  his  opinion, 
despite  adverse  testimony.  He  might  have  no 
answer  ready  to  meet  McFalcon's  objection  to  his 
theory,  but  it  was  a  good  theory  none  the  less. 
Undoubtedly  the  bullet  had  travelled  downward, 
striking  Theobold  well  up  toward  the  shoulder. 
Not  an  easy  matter  to  explain,  certainly,  but 
mighty  suspicious  all  the  same. 

It  appeared,  moreover,  from  Finnigan's  mut- 
tered soliloquy,  that  he  determined  that  no  one 
should  go  in  or  out  of  the  office  without  being 
carefully  inspected.  As  he  was  left  in  charge  at 
the  door  he  had  full  opportunity  to  put  his  resolu- 
tion into  effect.  But  his  search  revealed  nothing. 

"A  clever  guy  like  that  wouldn't  leave  a  gun 
lying  round.  I  suppose  he  had  a  pal  to  help  him 
get  away  with  it,"  was  his  mental  comment. 

So  far  as  Finnigan  was  concerned,  the  mystery 
of  the  death  of  John  Theobold  was  no  mystery  at 
all.  Crosby  had  shot  him.  That  was  the  long 
and  the  short  of  it.  Just  how  he  managed  to 
shoot  him  from  above,  and  just  what  he  had  done 
with  the  weapon — these  were  details  for  the  Dis- 


THE  OFFICIAL  VERDICT  45 

trict  Attorney  to  work  out.     A  police  officer's  duty 
is  finished  when  he  points  out  the  criminal. 

But  what  was  the  use  of  pointing  out  the 
criminal,  when  the  Inspector  had  ears  only  for  that 
upstart  of  a  detective,  McFalcon?  Not  that 
Finnigan  was  jealous  of  the  detective.  Not  a  bit 
of  it.  He  was  only  plain  disgusted.  Such,  at 
least,  was  the  policeman's  own  verdict,  as  delivered 
sotto  voce  to  himself. 


CHAPTER  V 
A  Pair  of  Hatpins 

MEL  McFALCON  was  a  typical  repre- 
sentative of  that  ultra-modern  school 
of  detectives  who  owe  their  existence 
to  the  creator  of  Sherlock  Holmes. 

They  are  the  men  in  real  life  who  attempt  to 
rival  the  detectives  of  fiction,  by  applying  logical 
reasoning  and  a  superficial  knowledge  of  science 
in  solving  the  mysteries  that  attach  to  substan- 
tially all  crimes.  But  McFalcon,  although  as- 
suredly not  a  literary  man,  had  been  a  great 
reader,  and  he  owed  his  reputation  in  consider- 
able part  to  the  fact  that  he  had  a  somewhat 
wider  knowledge  of  literature  and  science  than 
his  fellows — or  perhaps  it  would  be  a  more 
accurate  phrasing  to  say  that  his  ignorance  of 
these  subjects  was  somewhat  less  abysmal  than 
theirs. 

It  was,  in  reality,  his  exceptional  reading  that 
led  McFalcon  to  an  instant  decision  in  solving  the 
mystery  of  Theobold's  death.  Only  a  short  time 

46 


A  PAIR  OF  HATPINS  47 

before  he  had  read  a  story  by  Frank  R.  Stockton 
that  had  made  a  strong  appeal  to  his  imagination. 
It  was  a  story  involving  an  incident  in  which  a 
man  far  down  in  the  depths  of  a  diamond  mine  had 
been  killed  by  a  pin  that  fell  from  the  surface  and 
acquired  such  momentum  that  it  drove  directly 
through  the  man's  body. 

That  story  had  flashed  into  McFalcon's  mind 
the  instant  the  suggestion  had  been  made  that 
Theobold's  death  had  resulted  from  something 
dropped  from  the  airplane. 

McFalcon  knew  very  little  about  physics,  and 
could  have  only  vague  notions  as  to  what  momen- 
tum a  body  might  acquire  in  falling  from  the 
machine;  but  he  felt  certain  that  any  man  who 
could  write  such  a  story  as  the  one  he  had  in  mind 
was  intelligent  enough  to  make  sure  of  his  facts;  so 
he  confidently  appropriated  the  information,  care- 
fully keeping  quiet  as  to  where  he  had  gained  it, 
and  retailed  it  now  in  modified  form  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  his  associates. 

"You  know,  Inspector,  even  a  pin  dropped  away 
up  there  where  the  bird-lady  was  could  go  right 
through  a  man  and  kill  him  dead  as  a  door  nail. 
The  momentum  a  falling  body  acquires  is  some- 
thing terrible.  And  I  reckon  that  this  thing  was 
bigger  than  a  pin." 


48          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

He  interrupted  himself  to  inspect  critically  the 
aperture  hi  the  back  of  the  dead  man's  coat. 

"I  reckon,"  he  continued,  "that  this  might  have 
been  a  lead  pencil  or" — a  brilliant  idea  striking 
him — ''or  a  hatpin.  Yes,  by  Jove!  I'll  bet  that's 
just  what  it  was — a  hatpin." 

"But  a  bird-lady  wouldn't  wear  a  hat,  would 
she?"  commented  the  Inspector,  dubiously. 

"She  might  not  wear  a  hat,  but  she'd  probably 
wear  a  veil  and  phi  it  on  with  a  hatpin.  Anyhow, 
I'll  bet  she  had  one  concealed  on  her  person  some- 
where, and  that  it  dropped  down  in  just  the  wrong 
place  for  our  friend  here." 

As  he  spoke  the  detective  was  looking  out  of  the 
window.  He  seemed  to  fix  his  gaze  intently  on 
something  on  the  roof  of  the  adjacent  building 
several  stories  down. 

"I  think  I'll  slip  down  and  see  what  I  can  find  on 
that  roof,"  he  said,  presently. 

An  hour  or  so  later  McFalcon  had  an  interview 
with  Miss  Sylvia  Lawson  in  the  police  station,  at 
which  it  was  divulged,  after  such  measure  of 
circumlocution  as  seemed  to  the  detective  in  keep- 
ing with  his  quest,  that  the  aviatrix  in  point  of 
fact  had  used  a  hatpin  to  fasten  on  her  cap;  that 
she  had  purposely  loosened  the  pin  in  order  to  re- 
move the  cap  and  wave  it  in  answer  to  salutations 


A  PAIR  OF  HATPINS  49 

as  she  came  up  over  the  crowds  down  by  the 
battery;  and  that  presumably  the  pin  had  there- 
after been  somewhat  insecurely  replaced,  inas- 
much as  it  had  disappeared  before  the  flight  was 
finished. 

At  all  events,  she  admitted  that  she  had  no 
recollection  of  finding  the  pin — in  fact,  had  given  it 
no  thought  when  she  removed  her  cap  at  the  land- 
ing, and  she  had  not  the  remotest  notion  as  to 
where  the  pin  might  be  now. 

Whereat  McFalcon  enlightened  her  by  produc- 
ing the  pin;  or  at  all  events  a  hatpin  that  he 
thrust  forward  with  calm  assurance,  remarking 
coolly: 

"Well,  what  do  you  say  to  this?  Do  you 
recognize  it?  Take  your  time  before  you  answer, 
for  remember  that  whatever  you  say  may  be  used 
against  you  in  court."  McFalcon  prided  himself 
on  being  able  to  temper  the  stern  winds  of  justice 
when  they  buffeted  one  of  the  weaker  sex,  quite 
after  the  manner  of  his  fictional  prototype. 

But  Miss  Lawson  was  quite  accustomed  to 
buffeting  the  winds  of  fortune,  both  physical  and 
symbolical.  She  neither  asked  nor  expected  that 
either  type  of  wind  should  be  tempered.  The 
mention  of  court  did  not  disconcert  her  in  the  least, 
and  the  corrugated  brows  above  the  eagle  eyes 


50         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

with  which  the  detective  peered  into  her  face 
represented  a  sheer  waste  of  energy.  Meeting  his 
gaze  with  an  amused  smile,  she  replied: 

"It  does  look  like  mine,  and  I  guess  I'll  claim  it. 
Thank  you  for  returning  it.  It  looks  like  a  lot  of 
others,  too,  for  it  cost  a  nickel  at  the  10-cent  store. 
Where  did  you  find  it?" 

Such  imperturbability  nettled  the  detective. 
He  was  not  accustomed  to  having  his  professional 
eye  met  with  so  unflinching  a  gaze,  and  his  So- 
cratic  questionings  with  such  flippant  response. 
Still  he  felt  that  he  must  not  be  outdone  in  com- 
posure. So  he  assumed  a  manner  of  great  dignity, 
and  spoke  with  conscious  deliberation: 

"I  found  it  on  the  roof  of  a  building,  where  you 
dropped  it;  but  between  the  time  that  you  let  it  go 
and  the  time  when  it  landed  on  the  roof,  it  went 
through  the  body  of  a  man  and  killed  him." 

But  even  that  shot  failed  to  produce  the  effect 
he  was  looking  for.  The  aviatrix  did  indeed 
change  expression  for  a  fraction  of  a  second,  and 
her  muscles  just  perceptibly  tightened,  then  she 
laughed  aloud. 

"Good  stuff,"  she  said.  "I'll  hand  that  on  to 
my  press  agent.  It  listens  bully." 

Such  is  the  nervous  organization  that  goes  to 
the  making  of  a  champion  aviatrix.  Or  such,  at 


A  PAIR  OF  HATPINS  51 

any  rate,  was  the  quality  of  fibre  of  this  particular 
girl. 

Not  all  the  well-toned  nerves  are  reserved  for 
flying  ladies,  however.  Some  of  them  are  ap- 
portioned to  young  ladies  who  act  as  stenographers 
to  business  men,  who  often  have  quite  as  much 
need  of  them  as  the  most  daring  of  aviators.  And 
when  nerves  of  this  superior  fibre  were  given  out, 
it  would  appear  that  Miss  Cynthia  Collins  had 
received  her  full  share.  No  one  could  doubt  that 
who  looked  into  her  steel-blue  eyes,  or  noted  the 
determined  set  of  her  very  comely  lips,  or  the 
angular  even  though  graceful  contour  of  her 
chin. 

The  girl's  nerves  had  proved  fully  adequate  to 
the  occasion  when  she  found  her  employer  lying 
dead  in  his  office,  and  in  the  subsequent  inter- 
views with  the  representatives  of  the  law.  And 
now  it  chanced  that,  not  long  after  the  nerves  of 
the  aviatrix  had  been  tested  by  the  detective, 
those  of  the  stenographer  were  being  subjected 
to  a  test  no  less  severe,  though  of  a  quite  different 
kind. 

The  testing  process  had  begun  when  she  read 
the  account  of  the  death  of  her  employer  in  the 
evening  papers.  Naturally  the  papers  had  made 
the  most  of  the  event.  Mr.  Thcobold  was  a  man 


52          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

of  some  prominence,  but  even  if  he  had  been  the 
most  obscure  citizen,  the  spectacular  nature  of  his 
taking  off  would  have  appealed  irresistibly  to  the 
censors  of  the  columns  of  the  press.  To  the 
metropolitan  reporter  nothing  is  sacred;  and  even 
the  gravity  of  the  event  could  not  banish  the 
feeling  that  a  kind  of  malevolent  humour  attended 
a  demise  brought  about,  however  inadvertently, 
with  the  aid  of  that  traditional  weapon  of  femi- 
ninity, the  hatpin. 

One  paper  even  had  the  audacity  to  print  a 
veiled  but  fairly  transparent  allusion  to  the 
measure  of  poetic  justice  attending  the  exit  by  so 
romantic  a  channel  of  one  whose  gallantries  were 
somewhat  proverbial. 

It  was  not  the  tone  of  these  newspaper  stories, 
however,  that  set  Miss  Collins's  nerves  on  edge. 
It  was  the  statement  of  fact  with  regard  to  the  hat- 
pin. The  detective  had  not  made  known  the 
result  of  his  search  on  the  roof  to  any  one  but  his 
chief;  and  Miss  Collins  had  had  no  inkling  of  it 
until  she  read  the  evening  paper,  at  the  very 
moment,  as  it  chanced,  when  McFalcon  was  pre- 
senting his  evidence  at  the  official  inquest  in 
the  inner  office. 

Then  she  called  Jack  Henley  out  into  the 
hall. 


A  PAIR  OF  HATPINS  53 

Once  outside  the  door  Miss  Collins  turned  to  the 
youth  with  an  eager  question. 

"Jack,  have  you  seen  that  thing  in  the  evening 
paper  about  the  hatpin?" 

"Yes;  but  I  don't  take  much  stock  in  it.  Do 
you?" 

"That's  what  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about,  Jack. 
I  don't  know  just  what  to  do.  You've  got  a  lot  of 
sense,  Jack.  I  want  you  to  advise  me." 

She  paused  a  moment;  then  hurried  on: 

"You  see,  I  don't  believe  that  hatpin  was 
dropped  by  the  airplane  girl  at  all.  I  think  it  was 
mine.  Don't  you  ever  tell  anybody,  Jack,  but  I 
was  standing  in  there  by  the  window  yesterday 
noon  before  we  went  to  lunch.  He  called  me  in 
just  as  I  was  putting  on  my  hat  and — well,  Jack — 
you  know  what  I  mean,  he  got  kind  of  fresh,  and  I 
had  a  hatpin  in  my  hand,  and  I  threatened  to 
scratch  his  face  with  it  if  he  didn't  keep  away. 
Then  all  of  a  sudden  he  caught  my  wrist  and  gave 
it  a  twist,  and  the  hatpin  slipped  from  my  fingers 
and  fell  out  of  the  window." 

The  boy  seemed  to  give  the  matter  very  serious 
attention. 

"Golly!"  he  said,  presently.  "Then  it  must 
have  been  your  hatpin  they  found." 

"But  listen,  Jack.     You  know  a  hatpin  might 


54         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

have  done  it.  There's  an  interview  here  in  the 
paper  with  a  Columbia  professor,  who  says  it 
might.'* 

"But  if  it's  your  hatpin,  Miss  Cynthia " 

"Yes,  Jack,  but  the  trouble  is  this.  If  that  hat- 
pin didn't  cause  the  death  of  Mr.  Theobold,  then 
something  else  did.  And  if  they  don't  find  some- 
thing else  on  the  roof  that  might  have  been 
dropped  from  the  airplane,  they'll  begin  to  look 
for  other  ways  Mr.  Theobold  might  have  been 
killed,  and  then  that  horrid  policeman,  Finnigan, 
will  begin  talking  again." 

"That's  so,"  said  Jack,  looking  very  grave. 
"And  tha.t  would  mean  that  Mr.  Crosby  would  be 
under  suspicion,  wouldn't  it?" 

"Of  course  it  would.  Did  you  see  how  the 
policeman  sneered  when  he  asked  how  the  shooting 
could  have  occurred  in  the  private  office  without  the 
only  man  who  was  in  the  adjoining  office  knowing 
about  it?" 

"Yes;  and  I  wanted  to  hit  him  when  I  saw  the 
way  he  looked  at  Mr.  Crosby." 

"  Oh,  Jack,  so  did  I.  I  wanted  to  kill  him.  But 
I  suppose  he  couldn't  help  feeling  that  way  as 
long  as  he  thought  Mr.  Theobold  was  shot.  Of 
course,  if  a  pistol  had  been  shot  in  there,  Frank  must 
have  heard  it,  with  only  that  board  partition 


A  PAIR  OF  HATPINS  55 

between.  And  that  proves  that  he  wasn't  shot, 
doesn't  it?" 

"Unless  maybe  the  bullet  came  from  outside 
somewhere." 

"But,  Jack,  there  isn't  anywhere  for  it  to  come 
from,  except  from  that  airplane.  It  must  have 
been  something  dropped  from  the  airplane.  If 
it  wasn't  the  hatpin,  it  was  something  else.  A 
hairpin  or  a  shoe  button  would  have  done  it, 
coming  from  'way  up  there.  Don't  you  think  so?  " 

"Maybe  so,  Miss  Cynthia.  That's  what  that 
Columbia  professor  said  that  told  about  it  in  the 
paper." 

"Well,  then,  it  must  have  been  something  the 
girl  dropped,  and  what  difference  does  it  make 
whether  it  was  the  hatpin  or  something  else?" 

Miss  Collins  was  obviously  arguing  the  case 
with  herself.  She  was  seemingly  trying  to  prove  to 
her  own  satisfaction  that  no  real  injustice  would  be 
done  anybody  if  she  kept  silent  about  the  hatpin. 
She  lowered  her  voice  instinctively  as  she  said : 

"Jack,  let's  not  say  a  thing  about  it.  No  one 
need  know." 

But  even  as  she  made  the  suggestion,  she 
glanced  about  her  suspiciously  as  if  with  a  sense  of 
alarm.  Her  look  suggested  that  in  concealing  this 
bit  of  information  she  felt  herself  in  a  way  acces- 


56          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

sory  to  the  crime — or  accident,  if  accident  it  had 
been. 

Jack's  face  did  not  reassure  her. 

"I  am  afraid  we  ought  to  tell,  Miss  Cynthia,"  he 
said.  "Everything's  bound  to  come  out  all  right, 
but  we  ought  to  tell." 

"Well,  let  me  think  about  it  a  little  first."  She 
seemed  on  the  verge  of  tears. 

The  boy  was  obviously  distressed. 

"Everything  will  be  all  right,  Miss  Cynthia. 
Don't  you  worry,"  he  said,  soothingly. 

"Oh,  Jack,  I  can't  help  worrying.  And,  Jack, 
please  don't  say  anything  about  the  hatpin." 

"I  won't  say  a  word,  Miss  Cynthia.  But  you 
must  tell,  and  Mr.  Crosby  must  tell  everything  he 
knows.  It's  the  only  way.  Everything  will  come 
out  all  right." 

There  is  something  beautiful  about  that  ele- 
mental sense  of  the  triumph  of  justice,  that  innate 
confidence  that  the  truth  is  mighty  and  must  pre- 
vail, which  is  the  heritage  of  normal  youth.  But 
seemingly  the  words  failed  to  carry  conviction  to 
Miss  Collins,  for  the  tone  of  her  voice  belied  her 
words  as  she  answered: 

"I  know  it  will,  Jack.  Oh,  Jack,  I  will  tell. 
But  not  just  yet.  And  please,  Jack,  don't  you 
say  a  word  about  it." 


A  PAIR  OF  HATPINS  57 

"All  right,  Miss  Cynthia.  I  won't  say  a  word." 
As  the  tall  girl  and  the  yet  taller  boy  came  back 
into  the  office,  where  the  policemen  had  gathered, 
each  glanced  furtively  about  and  masqueraded  an 
air  of  nonchalance.  The  face  of  the  boy  was  very 
grave.  That  of  the  girl  was  ghastly  almost  as  the 
face  of  John  Theobold  himself  who  was  lying  there 
in  the  inner  office  with  his  muscles  stiffening  in 
death. 


CHAPTER  VI 
The  District  Attorney  Takes  a  Hand 

MISS  CYNTHIA  COLLINS  was  not  the 
only  person  who  read  with  exceptional 
interest  the  account  in  the  evening 
papers  of  the  alleged  spectacular  manner  of  John 
Theobold's  death.  The  District  Attorney  of  the 
City  of  New  York  was  another  interested  reader. 
After  he  had  finished  the  account,  he  smiled  grimly, 
and  sent  for  one  of  his  assistants. 

"Webster,"  he  said,  when  his  aid  appeared, 
"have  you  read  this  tommy  rot  story  of  the 
killing  of  a  man  in  an  office  building  up  near 
Herald  Square  by  a  hatpin  dropped  from  that 
airplane?" 

"Yes,  I  read  it.  Also  we  had  a  report  on  the 
thing  from  the  Inspector." 

"I  suppose  McFalcon  was  on  the  job?" 

"Yes." 

"I  thought  so.  McFalcon  has  the  finest 
moving-picture  imagination  on  the  whole  force.  I 
suppose  it's  better  to  have  that  kind  of  an  imagina- 

58 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY  59 

tion  than  none  at  all,  like  most  of  the  others,  but 
there  are  limits.  Suppose  you  take  this  case  in 
charge,  and  run  up  there  the  first  thing  hi  the 
morning  and  find  out  something.  Know  anything 
about  this  man  Theobold?" 

"Only  that  he  was  a  kind  of  promoter.  One  of 
the  fellows  that  will  furnish  any  amount  of  ocean 
if  you  will  furnish  just  a  few  ships — and  let  him 
have  the  long  end  of  the  profits.  Average  type  of 
man  of  that  sort.  Honest  enough  to  keep  out  of 
Sing  Sing,  but  without  a  very  wide  margin.  A 
bit  of  a  woman  chaser." 

"I  see.  The  same  old  story.  Probably  had  a 
few  business  associates  on  one  hand  or  husbands 
of  women  friends  on  the  other  who  wouldn't  worry 
much  if  a  hatpin  or  a  bomb  or  something-— or 
perhaps  a  bullet — did  go  through  him.  Well,  see 
what  you  can  make  out  of  it." 

Thus  it  happened  that  David  Webster,  credited 
with  being  the  most  logical-minded  member  of  the 
District  Attorney's  staff,  put  in  his  appearance  at 
the  office  of  Theobold  &  Co.  at  an  early  hour  the 
next  morning,  and  began  an  investigation  of  the 
circumstances  attending  the  death  of  the  senior 
partner. 

He  began  by  getting  the  lay  of  the  land.  A 
public  hallway  leading  to  the  elevators  separated 


60          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

the  main  offices  of  Theobold  &  Co.  at  the  left 
from  the  private  office  on  the  right.  The  latter 
had  but  a  single  entrance  door,  and  consisted  of  a 
large  room  with  a  board  partition  at  the  corner 
farthest  from  the  entrance  portioning  off  the  space 
that  had  constituted  the  sanctum  sanctorum  of  the 
head  of  the  firm. 

Officer  Finnigan  was  on  guard  at  the  entrance 
door,  and  he  led  the  way  across  the  room  and  un- 
locked the  door  bearing  the  legend  "No  Ad- 
mission." 

"There's  where  he  was  laying,  over  by  the  win- 
dow where  you  see  that  blood  stain,"  he  said, 
"  They  took  him  away  after  the  inquest  last  night. 
McFalcon  and  the  Inspector  think  he  was  hit  by 
something  from  the  airplane,  but  according  to  me 
it  was  just  a  plain  case  of  shootin '." 

Webster  said  nothing  for  a  moment,  but  scru- 
tinized the  contents  of  the  little  room.  It  was  a 
typical  New  York  business  office :  a  table  at  the  left, 
a  roll-top  desk  over  by  the  window,  and  a  private 
safe  against  the  wall  a  few  feet  beyond  the  desk. 
The  partition  that  shut  off  this  space  from  the  rest 
of  the  room,  and  gave  it  a  measure  of  privacy, 
consisted  of  the  usual  oak  base  with  glass  top — just 
thick  enough  to  shut  off  the  sound  of  ordinary  con- 
versation, if  one  does  not  raise  one's  voice  too  high. 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY          61 

i 

"Any  shooting  in  here  would  be  heard  as  plain 
as  day  in  the  outer  office,"  said  Webster  presently. 
"Who  was  in  there?" 

"Secretary  chap  named  Crosby.  He's  the  boy 
who  did  the  shooting,  or  I  miss  my  guess.  But  I 
couldn't  make  McFalcon  or  the  Inspector  see  it, 
after  they  got  their  minds  set  on  this  hatpin 
business." 

"Who  else  occupies  that  office?" 

"Only  a  good-looking  stenographer  girl  and  a 
big  overgrown  office  boy,  the  one  that  is  out  there 
now.  The  girl  and  Crosby  are  chums,  I  take  it. 
I  shouldn't  wonder  if  she  knew  a  good  deal  more 
about  this  than  she  wants  to  tell." 

"I  will  see  them  when  they  come  in.  Meantime, 
I'll  have  a  talk  with  the  boy.  Send  him  in  here, 
please,  and  you  keep  tab  on  the  outer  door." 

The  attorney  was  a  man  of  medium  stature  and 
rather  full  figure  with  smooth-shaven,  youthful 
face  belying  the  baldness  of  his  crown;  and  with 
twinkling  eyes,  a  smile  that  suggested  sophistica- 
tion or  cynicism,  and  an  ingratiating  manner.  In 
a  moment  he  had  made  Jack  Henley  feel  quite  at 
home,  and  in  two  minutes  had  him  talking  as 
freely  as  if  he  had  known  his  interlocutor  for  a 
lifetime. 

"Jack,  I  want  you  to  tell  me  everything  that  you 


62         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

remember  about  what  happened  in  this  office 
yesterday  morning  before  Theobold  was  killed. 
Tell  it  your  own  way,  and  don't  keep  anything 
back." 

"Why,  not  much  of  anything  happened,  sir. 
I  was  here  early  and  opened  up  the  office  as  I 
always  do,  and  Miss  Collins  and  Mr.  Crosby  came 
hi  about  half-past  eight." 

"They  came  together?" 

"Yes,  sir;  they  almost  always  do." 

"Did  you  notice  anything  peculiar  about  their 
manner?" 

The  boy  looked  up  as  if  he  found  the  question 
startling.  He  appeared  to  hesitate. 

"Tell  me  all  about  it,"  said  the  attorney,  in- 
gratiatingly. "Did  they  seem  excited  or  angry,  or 
anything?" 

"Mr.  Crosby  seemed  angry,  but  I  think  Miss 
'Collins  was  trying  to  make  up  with  him." 

"I  see.  Been  having  a  lovers'  quarrel,  I  take  it. 
Did  you  hear  anything  that  gave  you  any  notion  as 
to  what  the  quarrel  was  about?" 

"Well,  you  see,  sir,  I  don't  like  to  say  anything 
about  it,  but  I  suppose  I  ought  to.  Mr.  Crosby 
was  angry  because  Miss  Collins  had  lunched 
with  Mr.  Theobold  the  day  before.  Miss  Collins 
said  it  was  just  part  of  the  work,  so  they  could 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY          63 

talk  over  some  letters  and  business  matters. 
And  he  said,  'Yes,  I  know  how  much  business 
has  to  do  with  it, '  and  things  like  that.  Then  she 
got  angry,  too,  and  they  didn't  speak  to  each  other 
any  more  but  went  over  and  sat  down  at  their 
desks  and  went  to  work.  I  was  awfully  sorry,  for 
I  knew  Miss  Collins  didn't  mean  anything  by  it." 

The  attorney  appeared  to  meditate,  and  hum- 
med a  little  snatch  of  song  under  his  breath.  He 
tapped  his  fingers  on  the  desk,  and  the  way  he 
wrinkled  his  brow  suggested  the  mental  attitude 
of  one  who  is  putting  two  and  two  together. 

"Lovers  have  always  quarrelled,  Jack,  and 
always  will.  It's  part  of  the  game.  What 
happened  next?" 

"Nothing,  for  a  while.  They  just  sat  there,  Mr. 
Crosby  bending  over  his  desk  and  scowling,  and 
Miss  Collins  pounding  at  the  typewriter,  and  I  was 
over  at  my  desk,  wishing  I  could  say  something  to 
make  them  see  how  foolish  it  was  to  quarrel,  for  I 
like  both  of  them  a  lot.  But  I  thought  it  wasn't 
any  use  just  then  to  try,  and  so  I  worked  away  on 
the  mail-order  list,  and  nobody  came  in  until  Mr. 
Theobold  arrived." 

"What  time  was  that?" 

"He  always  came  in  exactly  at  nine  o'clock. 
That  makes  me  think  of  something." 


64          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Yes?" 

"Why,  that  clock  up  there  is  seventeen  minutes 
fast,  and  if  you  don't  mind,  I'll  set  it  right." 

The  attorney  took  out  his  own  watch  and  looked 
at  the  clock. 

"Yes,  I  see  that  it  is,  but  what  made  you  think 
of  it?" 

"Why,  when  Mr.  Theobold  came  in  yesterday, 
he  called  me  in  here  and  said  'Jack,  it's  a  blame 
sight  better  to  be  ahead  of  time  than  behind  time, 
but  it  is  best  of  all  to  be  just  on  time.  That  clock 
is  seventeen  minutes  fast.  Suppose  you  set  it 
right  and  keep  it  right.  I  might  try  to  catch  a 
train  by  it  some  time,  and  lose  seventeen  minutes. 
And  seventeen  minutes  of  my  time  are  sometimes 
valuable.'  He  said  that,  or  something  like  that.'' 

"But  I  see  that  the  clock  is  still  seventeen 
minutes  fast.  Did  you  set  it?" 

"No,  sir.  He  said  not  to  do  it  just  then,  be- 
cause he  was  expecting  some  men,  and  he  wanted 
me  to  go  on  an  errand,  and  when  I  got  back,  it  had 
happened,  and  I  forgot  all  about  the  clock  until 
just  now.  So  I'll  set  it  now  if  you  don't  mind." 

"All  right;  go  ahead.  The  clock  is  exactly 
seventeen  minutes  fast,  for  I  compared  my  watch 
with  the  Pennsylvania  Station  clock  as  I  came  by  a 
few  minutes  ago." 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY  65 

"I  set  my  watch  by  it,  too,"  said  the  boy.  "I 
remembered  about  the  clock,  and  I  wanted  to  have 
it  just  right,  but  I  couldn't  get  into  this  office  until 
now  because  the  policeman  had  the  door  locked." 

The  boy  adjusted  the  hands  of  the  clock,  and  the 
attorney  noted  by  comparison  with  his  own  watch 
that  it  was  done  accurately.  "A  good,  methodical 
lad.  I  can  depend  upon  what  I  get  out  of  him,"  he 
commented,  mentally.  And  aloud  he  said: 

"You  say  Theobold  always  got  here  exactly  on 
time.  He  was  apparently  annoyed  to  find  the 
clock  out  of  kilter.  Yet  from  what  you  say  he 
took  it  good  naturedly.  I  infer  that  he  was 
a  pretty  even-tempered,  good-natured  sort  of 
man." 

"Not  always.  There  were  some  mornings  when 
if  he  found  the  clock  two  minutes  out  of  the  way 
he  would  have  made  an  awful  fuss.  But  he  was 
feeling  good  yesterday.  He  had  a  business  deal 
on  that  pleased  him,  and  when  he  was  in  good 
humour  he  was  as  nice  as  he  could  be." 

"What  was  this  business  deal?" 

"I  don't  know  just  what  it  was,  of  course.  But 
it  was  something  that  had  to  do  with  Doctor  Harris 
and  Captain  De  Lage.  They  came  in  only  a  few 
minutes  after  he  did,  and  they  were  in  here  alone 
with  him  for  five  or  ten  minutes,  and  then  he 


66         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

called  me  in  to  put  my  name  on  some  papers  as 
witness  to  the  signatures,  and  I  saw  that  he  was 
smiling  and  feeling  very  happy.  And  I  remember 
something  else,  too,  that  happened  before  they 
came." 

"What  was  that?" 

"Why,  after  he  spoke  to  me  about  setting  the 
clock  right,  he  stepped  over  to  the  safe,  and  I 
jumped  ahead  and  opened  the  safe  door  for  him, 
and  he  said  'Good  boy,  Jack.  Always  on  the 
job.*  I  had  opened  the  safe  lots  of  times  for  him 
before,  but  I  don't  remember  that  he  ever  said 
anything  about  it,  so  I  know  he  must  have  been 
feeling  extra  good  or  he  wouldn't  have  noticed  it." 

The  attorney  glanced  over  at  the  safe,  and  then 
turned  in  his  chair  and  appeared  to  meditate  for  a 
few  minutes  before  he  spoke  again.  Presently  he 
said: 

"  You  opened  the  safe  for  him?  After  he  got  out 
the  papers,  did  you  close  it  again?" 

"I  don't  just  remember,  but  I  don't  think  so. 
I  think  it  was  still  open  when  I  came  in  to  witness 
the  papers,  while  Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De 
Lage  were  here.  I  am  not  quite  sure,  though, 
but  I  know  it  was  closed  when  I  came  back  after 
Mr.  Theobold  was  killed,  for  I  was  looking  all 
around  the  office  to  see  if  I  could  find  if  a  bullet 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY          67 

struck  anywhere,  and  I  remember  just  how  every- 
thing looked  then,  and  the  safe  was  closed." 

The  attorney  seemed  to  meditate  for  a  moment, 
then  stepping  across  the  floor  he  tested  the  handle 
of  the  safe.  It  was  locked. 

"Who  knows  the  combination  of  the  safe? 
Do  you?" 

"No,  sir.  Miss  Collins  always  opened  the  safe. 
She'll  be  here  pretty  soon,  for  she  always  comes  at 
half -past  eight." 

"All  right.  Meantime,  let  me  hear  what  else 
happened.  Who  are  these  visitors  you  speak  of, 
Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage?" 

"Why,  Doctor  Harris  is  an  inventor.  He  isn't 
a  medical  doctor,  but  some  other  kind — a  Ph.  D.,  I 
think  they  call  it.  He  has  a  laboratory  over  in 
Brooklyn  where  he  makes  a  lot  of  experiments,  and 
Captain  De  Lage  is  there  with  him.  Captain  De 
Lage  is  a  Frenchman,  and  was  in  the  war,  but  got 
wounded,  and  is  over  here  about  some  invention 
that  Doctor  Harris  has.  It  has  something  to  do 
with  guns,  I  think,  but  I  don't  know  just  what." 

"They  had  been  here  to  see  Mr.  Theobold 
before?" 

"Oh,  yes,  quite  often;  especially  Doctor  Harris. 
They  were  very  good  friends.  You  know  Mr. 
Theobold  was  interested  in  inventions,  and  I 


68          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

think  he  loaned  money  to  help  the  inventor.  He 
did  the  same  thing  for  Sefior  Cortez,  I  think?" 

"  Senor  Cortez?     Who  is  he?  " 

"He  is  a  man  from  South  America  who  has  an 
invention  that  goes  on  a  pistol." 

"Was  he  here  yesterday?" 

"No,  sir;  but  his  wife  was." 

"She  was  here  with  Doctor  Harris  and  Captain 
DeLage?" 

"No,  sir.  She  came  after  they  had  gone.  Mr. 
Theobold  said  he  would  send  them — that  is, 
Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage — over  to 
Brooklyn  in  his  automobile,  and  he  went  with  them 
out  as  far  as  the  elevator,  and  then  I  went  on  the 
errand  he  sent  me  on,  and  the  last  time  I  saw  him 
alive  was  there  in  the  hallway  when  he  was  coming 
back  from  the  elevator,  and  then  I  was  away  until 
after  it  happened.  But  when  I  got  back  they  told 
me  that  Senora  Cortez  had  been  hi  there  with 
Mr.  Theobold  only  a  little  while  before  he  was 
killed." 

"Who  told  you  that?" 

"Miss  Collins.  She  wasn't  there  either  at  that 
time,  and  she  didn't  see  Senora  Cortez,  but  Mr. 
Crosby  told  her  she  had  been  here.  Miss  Collins 
calls  Senora  Cortez  the  gypsy,  because  she  has  a 
dark  complexion  and  black  eyes.  Miss  Collins 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY          69 

doesn't  like  her  very  well,  but  I  think  she  is  awfully 
nice." 

"Wait  a  moment,  please.  Let  me  get  this  thing 
straightened  out.  You  say  you  saw  Doctor 
Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage  leave,  then  you  went 
away,  and  you  don't  know  anything  more  at  first 
hand  of  what  happened  until  you  came  back  and  it 
was  all  over.  But  Miss  Collins  told  you  that  Mr. 
Crosby  told  her  that  there  had  been  another 
visitor.  Suppose  you  ask  Miss  Collins  to  step  in 
here  if  she  is  out  there.  It  is  after  half-past  eight, 
and  I  think  I  heard  somebody  come  in." 

In  a  few  minutes  Miss  Collins  was  closeted  with 
the  attorney  in  the  private  office.  She  looked  very 
pale,  and  pallor  did  not  become  her  type  of  beauty, 
rosy  cheeks  being  ordinarily  one  of  her  chief 
assets.  The  girl's  eyes  met  the  inspection  of  the 
attorney  unflinchingly,  and  the  firm  set  of  her  jaw 
did  not  suggest  a  source  of  easy  information  if 
perchance  she  had  anything  to  conceal. 

"Miss  Collins,"  the  attorney  said  with  seeming 
casualness,  "I  wish  you  would  tell  me  just  what 
you  know  about  the  incidents  that  happened 
yesterday  morning  prior  to  the  death  of  Mr. 
Theobold." 

"There  is  very  little  that  I  know,"  the  girl 
answered  after  a  moment.  "I  came  to  the  office 


70         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

as  usual,  and  transcribed  some  notes.  Mr. 
Theobold  arrived  and  about  fifteen  minutes  later 
Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage  came  in. 
After  they  went  away  Mr.  Theobold  told  me  I  had 
better  go  up  on  the  roof  to  see  the  airplane.  He 
told  me  to  come  back  at  ten  o'clock  to  take  some 
dictation.  And  when  I  did  come  back  I  found 
him  lying  there  dead!" 

"Was  any  one  in  the  office  when  you  came  down 
from  the  roof?  " 

"Mr.  Crosby  was  there." 

"Did  he  say  anything  to  you?" 

"He  said  that  Mr.  Theobold  had  rung  the  bell 
for  me  five  minutes  before.  And  he  men- 
tioned that  Senora  Cortez  had  called  to  see  Mr. 
Theobold." 

"Why  should  he  mention  that?  Is  Senora 
Cortez  a  friend  of  yours?" 

"Not  particularly.  I  suppose  he  just  happened 
to  mention  it.  I  don't  know  why  he  did." 

"In  any  event,  you  did  not  see  her." 

"No,  sir,  not  that  morning.  I  was  up  on  the 
roof,  as  I  told  you." 

"Did  you  have  any  conversation  with  Mr. 
Theobold  before  you  went  up  on  the  roof?  Had 
you  taken  any  dictation  that  morning,  for  ex- 
ample?" 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY          71 

"No;  he  seldom  gave  dictation  until  after  ten 
o'clock.  I  saw  him  only  a  moment  before  Doctor 
Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage  came." 

"What  did  he  say  to  you?" 

"He  asked  me  to  go  to  lunch  with  him — to 
discuss  some  letters  and  business  matters." 

"And  you  said  you  would  go?" 

"One  hasn't  much  choice  under  the  circum- 
stances." 

"I  suppose  not.  Did  Mr.  Crosby  know  you 
were  going?" 

"He  may  have  known  it." 

"Was  there  any  one  here  in  the  office  when  you 
went  up  on  the  roof  except  Mr.  Theobold  and  Mr. 
Crosby?" 

"No." 

"And  there  was  no  one  in  the  outer  office  when 
you  returned  except  Mr.  Crosby.  And  Mr. 
Theobold  was  lying  in  here  dead.  Has  it  occurred 
to  you  that  that  makes  things  look  rather  bad 
for  Mr.  Crosby?" 

"But  Mr.  Theobold  was  killed  by — by  some- 
thing that  fell  from  the  airplane.  The  police 
officers  say  so.  Mr.  Crosby  could  know  nothing 
about  that.  It  wouldn't  make  any  noise." 

"I  know  the  police  have  that  theory.  But  be- 
tween ourselves  it  doesn't  sound  altogether  plaus- 


72         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

ible,  now,  does  it?  Has  it  occurred  to  you  that 
Crosby  may  have  been  jealous  of  Theobold's 
attention  to  you,  and  that  in  a  fit  of  jealous  rage, 
he  might  have  come  in  here,  when  no  one  else  was 
about,  and " 

By  way  of  completing  his  sentence,  the  at- 
torney waved  his  hand  expressively  over  in  the 
direction  of  the  window,  where  the  pool  of  blood 
had  left  its  stain. 

Miss  Collins  moistened  her  lips  two  or  three 
times  before  she  attempted  to  speak.  The  muscles 
of  her  jaws  twitched  perceptibly,  but  she  still 
looked  the  attorney  squarely  in  the  eyes  as  she 
said  in  a  firm,  even  tone: 

"It  is  absolutely  impossible.  You  do  not  know 
Mr.  Crosby,  or  you  would  never  suggest  such  a 
thing." 

"Possibly  not,"  said  the  attorney,  drily.  "And 
mind  you,  Miss  Collins,  I  am  suggesting  nothing. 
I  am  only  thinking  aloud.  Offhand,  it's  a  little 
difficult  to  see  how  a  man  could  be  killed  in  here 
without  the  knowledge  of  any  one  just  the  other 
side  of  that  thin  partition.  However,  never  mind 
that  for  the  present.  There  is  something  else  I 
want  to  ask  you  about.  Do  you  remember  if  the 
safe  was  open  when  you  came  in  yesterday  morn- 
ing and  found  Theobold  lying  dead?" 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY  73 

"The  safe?  I  did  not  think  anything  about  the 
safe." 

"Of  course  not.  You  would  naturally  think  of 
nothing  at  the  moment  but  the  man  lying  there. 
But  afterward,  you  might  have  noticed.  It  was 
your  business  to  look  after  the  safe.  If  it  chanced 
to  be  open,  you  would  very  likely  close  it,  when  you 
knew  the  police  and  other  people  would  be  coming. 
Try  to  recall  just  what  happened.  Do  you  re- 
member closing  the  safe?" 

"If  it  was  open,  I  must  have  closed  it,  because 
I  know  it  was  closed  when  the  officers  were  search- 
ing the  room." 

"Well,  don't  you  remember  closing  it?" 

"Yes,  I  think  I  do.  I  think  after  I  telephoned 
for  the  police  and  the  doctor  that  I  noticed  the  safe 
being  open,  and  that  I  went  over  and  closed  it, 
but  without  thinking  anything  about  it." 

"A  very  natural  thing  to  do.  And  now  would 
you  mind  opening  that  safe  for  me?  I  want  to 
have  a  look,  and  find  out,  with  your  aid,  if  any- 
thing inside  appears  to  have  been  disturbed." 

"Nothing  could  have  been  disturbed,  for  Mr. 
Theobold  himself  was  in  here  all  the  time." 

"Of  course.     But  suppose  we  have  a  look." 

The  girl  went  over  to  the  safe  and  began  turning 
the  knob.  She  appeared  to  work  automatically, 


74         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

but  her  hand  trembled,  and  once  she  apparently 
turned  the  knob  past  the  proper  figure,  for  she 
gave  an  exclamation  of  impatience,  and  brought 
the  index  pointer  back  to  zero,  starting  over  again. 
Presently,  however,  she  completed  the  combina- 
tion, and  twisted  the  handle.  The  attorney 
swung  the  outer  doors  open  and  the  inner  doors 
in  turn.  Then  he  whistled  softly. 

"Hello!"  he  said,  meditatively.  "What  do  you 
make  of  that?" 

He  indicated  a  roundish  and  blackish  object  of 
irregular  contour,  ill-defined  in  shape,  suggesting  a 
fragment  of  crude  rubber,  which  lay  in  the  bottom 
of  the  safe  in  an  empty  compartment.  Reaching 
down,  he  touched  the  object. 

"It  looks  like  rubber,  but  it  feels  like  lead,"  he 
said,  presently.  "And  do  you  see  that  hole  in  the 
ledger,  and  that  mark  back  there  against  the  wall 
of  the  safe?  I  fancy  the  thing  hit  there  and 
bounded  back.  I  guess  now  we're  on  the  track  of 
the  thing  that  killed  Mr.  Theobold;  eh,  Miss 
Collins?" 

As  he  spoke  the  attorney  was  watching  the 
girl's  face  intently.  But  she  did  not  flinch. 

"It's  impossible,"  she  murmured.  "He  did 
not  do  it.  He  could  not  have  done  it." 

Then   her   lips   moved  inarticulately,  and  her 


THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY  75 

eyes  were  wide  and  staring.  But  the  next  in- 
stant she  drew  herself  up  quickly,  with  a  proud 
toss  of  her  head,  as  the  attorney  stepped  forward, 
reaching  out  his  hand  to  support  her. 

" I'm  all  right,"  she  exclaimed.  '* It  startled  me, 
but  I'm  all  right.  And  no  one  shall  dare  to  say 
that  he  did  it.  It  was  the  gypsy.  It  must  have 
been  the  gypsy." 

The  attorney  stepped  to  the  door,  and  there 
was  a  note  of  excitement  in  his  voice  as  he  said: 

"Finnigan,  suppose  you  call  up  the  Inspector, 
and  ask  him  to  come  over.  He  missed  a  little 
evidence  that  I  should  like  to  show  him." 


CHAPTER  VII 
A  Fresh  Clue 

WHEN  the  guardians  of  the  law  reas- 
sembled in  the  offices  of  Theobold  & 
Co.  fifteen  minutes  later,  to  examine  the 
new  evidence,  there  was  of  course  a  precipitate 
change  of  front. 

Hatpins  are  picturesque  weapons,  but  their 
significance  was  necessarily  modified,  to  say  the 
least,  in  the  presence  of  that  tell-tale  bullet. 

With  rather  obvious  pride  the  Assistant  District 
Attorney  showed  his  find.  Then  remarking  that 
he  was  going  to  look  into  another  aspect  of  the  case, 
but  would  return  presently,  he  withdrew,  leaving 
the  Inspector  in  charge. 

Finnigan,  of  course,  was  now  in  his  element. 
His  star,  which  had  temporarily  gone  under  a 
cloud,  was  in  the  ascendant.  To  him  at  least 
it  was  clear  that  he  had  scored  a  point  over 
the  rival  who  usually  outshone  him.  The 
famed  detective  probably  felt  a  measure  of 
chagrin,  but  he  disguised  the  fact  very  well,  and 

76 


A  FRESH  CLUE  77 

bestirred  himself  to  get  the  wind  of  Finnigan's 
sails. 

Not  unnaturally,  however,  the  Inspector  now 
gave  Finnigan  the  floor.  And  that  sagacious  offi- 
cial made  the  most  of  his  opportunity.  He  re- 
minded all  present  that  he  had  "told  them  so "  from 
the  outset,  and  reiterated  his  reminder  with  all  the 
variations  permitted  by  his  vocabulary.  More- 
over, he  felt  called  upon  to  explain  the  exact  details 
of  the  murder — "murther"  he  called  it — and  he 
dwelt  upon  the  word  with  delectation,  especially 
when  McFalcon  was  within  earshot. 

"I  kin  see  the  whole  thing,"  he  said,  pantomim- 
ing his  own  story  as  he  talked.  "Our  old  friend 
was  over  at  the  safe,  stooping  down  on  his  knees 
like  this,  to  get  at  some  papers  there  at  the  back. 
This  secretary  guy  slips  in,  tiptoes  behind  the 
desk,  and  blazes  away.  The  gun  is  only  three 
feet  from  our  old  friend,  and  he  couldn't  miss. 
But  our  old  friend  is  game.  He  don't  die  in  his 
tracks.  He  jumps  up,  turns  around,  and  makes  a 
grab  for  the  gun.  The  murtherer" — again  he 
dwelt  on  the  word  lovingly — "jumps  back;  and 
Mr.  Theobold  falls  forward  there  by  the  window, 
where  we  found  him.  It's  all  as  plain  as  the  nose 
on  your  face." 

The  nose  on  Finnigan's  face  was  very  plain  in- 


78         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

deed.  It  was  so  much  in  evidence  that  on  at  least 
two  occasions  it  had  come  in  the  way  of  a  fist  or  a 
club  with  effects  permanently  damaging  to  its 
beauty.  But  of  course  Finnigan  had  not  used  the 
word  "plain"  in  just  the  sense  that  a  glance  at  his 
nose  might  imply.  What  he  meant  was  that  the 
story  was  clear,  explicit,  unequivocal,  and  carried 
to  the  point  of  demonstration. 

Had  he  been  a  geometrician  he  would  have 
written  Q.  E.  D.  after  his  explanation. 

Unfortunately  Finnigan  lacked  scholarship  for 
such  a  climax.  Conceivably  McFalcon,  had  the 
cases  been  reversed,  might  have  managed  it.  Now, 
however,  the  latter  was  by  no  means  disposed  to 
put  any  such  imprimateur  on  Finnigan's  story. 
On  the  contrary,  he  held  his  nose  in  the  air  and 
gave  Finnigan  a  look  that  he  probably  intended 
to  be  condescending,  but  which  undoubtedly 
lacked  something  of  carrying  conviction.  But  a 
great  detective  must  be  equal  to  any  emergency. 
He  must,  among  other  things,  be  an  adept  at  the 
art  of  sparring  for  wind.  If,  on  the  inside, 
McFalcon  felt  a  bit  groggy  he  maintained  ex- 
teriorly a  shade  more  than  his  average  degree  of 
imperturbability  as  he  said: 

"Hold  on,  hold  on,  Finnigan.  That  ante- 
diluvian 'told  you  so'  stuff  is  bunk!"  ("Ante- 


A  FRESH  CLUE  79 

diluvian"  was  a  word  that  McFalcon  had  come 
upon  in  his  reading.  He  had  treasured  it,  possibly 
anticipating  such  an  emergency  as  this.)  "What 
you  told  us  was  that  Theobold  was  standing  by 
the  window,  and  that  someone  came  up  behind 
and  shot  him  dead  in  his  tracks.  Hold  to  your 
story,  man." 

Finnigan  looked  a  bit  sheepish.  Undoubtedly 
he  stood  a  good  deal  in  awe  of  McFalcon's  superior 
wisdom,  and  although  he  felt  sure  enough  of  his 
ground  now,  he  had  an  uneasy  sense  of  dread 
that  conceivedly  the  detective  might  have  a  card 
up  his  sleeve  that  would  out-trump  him.  But 
he  stood  his  ground,  as  might  confidently  have 
been  predicted  of  a  man  with  his  name,  his  accent, 
and — last  but  not  least — his  nose. 

"  Shure  I  did ! "  he  exclaimed.  "  That  was  what 
the  ividence  seemed  to  warrant  on  the  instant. 
But  now  we  have  new  ividence  that  warrants  a  new 
hypothesis." 

Finnigan's  face  beamed  as  he  said  the  last  word. 
That  "antediluvian"  of  McFalcon's — not  to  men- 
tion the  "obsolete" — had  disturbed  him;  but  now, 
as  if  by  inspiration,  a  word  that  fully  matched  the 
detective's  came  to  his  own  tongue.  It  heartened 
him  greatly,  as  was  evident  from  the  tone  with 
which  he  continued :  "  The  preliminary  hypothesis 


80         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

was  a  bit  wrong  as  to  the  detail  of  standing  by  the 
window.  But  the  main  hypothesis  of  murther  is 
sustained  by  the  new  ividence.  And  who  was  it 
that  said  the  man  was  murthered  from  the  start, 
I  ask?" 

The  word  hypothesis  which  made  such  an  ap- 
peal to  Finnigan's  sense  of  proportion,  and  rolled 
with  such  sonorousness  from  his  tongue,  is  a  word 
whose  importance  fully  matches  its  length.  There 
is  no  walk  in  life  in  which  it  does  not  play  an  im- 
portant part,  and  there  are  many  walks  in  which  it 
may  be  said  to  play  a  preponderant  part.  Hy- 
pothesis was  what  led  the  great  Darwin  to  his 
famous  solution  of  the  origin  of  the  race;  hy- 
pothesis led  the  incomparable  Newton  to  the  Law 
of  Universal  Gravitation;  and  hypothesis  governs  a 
good  share  of  the  activities  of  every-day  mortals. 

But  the  great  difficulty  with  the  hypothesis  is 
that  its  name  is  legion,  and  that  if  you  mount  the 
wrong  member  of  the  troop,  it  can  carry  you  away 
from  the  truth  as  fast  as  the  right  one  could  carry 
you  toward  it.  Indeed  a  wrong  hypothesis  seems 
to  whirl  you  along  at  dizzy  speed,  making  it  im- 
possible for  you  to  see  anything  but  the  one  idea 
you  are  pursuing.  Meantime,  some  other  im- 
portant idea  may  safely  take  to  cover. 

Thus  it  was,  for  example,  with  the  hypothesis 


A  FRESH  CLUE  81 

connecting  the  death  of  Mr.  Theobold  with  an 
airplane  and  a  hatpin,  which  the  doughty 
McFalcon  bestrode  so  valiantly  only  yesterday. 
It  caused  the  great  detective  and  the  others  who 
clattered  after  him  to  fix  their  eyes  on  that  hat- 
pin with  something  approaching  a  hypnotic  stare. 
They  could  see  nothing  else.  Their  minds  went 
careening  off  into  space  with  the  airplane. 
They  became  oblivious  of  their  immediate  sur- 
rounding. Reposing  full  faith  in  a  hatpin, 
they  had  quite  forgotten  to  search  for  another 
weapon. 

Finnigan,  to  be  sure,  who  did  not  accept  the 
airplane  hypothesis,  had  taken  pains  to  see  that 
no  one  who  left  the  office,  including  in  particular 
the  private  secretary,  had  a  pistol  concealed 
about  his  person.  Even  that  degree  of  precaution 
was  something,  but  it  lacked  a  good  deal  of  com- 
prehensiveness, as  the  inspector  now  realized — 
since  the  new  hypothesis  was  carrying  him  head- 
long in  another  direction. 

Of  a  sudden  the  brilliant  deduction  came  to  his 
mind  that  a  pistol  bullet  sent  through  a  man  and 
lodged  in  a  safe  implies  a  pistol  that  has  done  the 
sending.  What  had  become  of  that  pistol? 

This  brilliant  deduction,  followed  by  the  interest- 
ing query,  instantly  turned  the  tide  of  affairs 


82         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

inside  the  office,  and  put  a  period,  for  the  moment 
at  any  rate,  to  the  dialogue  between  the  rival 
detectives. 

"Can  that  guff,  boys,"  said  the  Inspector  in  his 
customary  monosyllabic  diction.  "Can  that  guff, 
and  make  a  hunt  for  the  gun  that  did  the  job 
for  the  old  boy." 

With  all  due  expeditiousness  (lacking  just  about 
twenty -four  hours)  the  search  for  this  weapon  was 
now  begun.  The  search  was  a  thorough  one.  No 
nook  or  cranny  of  the  office  was  neglected.  But 
the  gun  was  not  forthcoming. 

Obviously  some  new  hypothesis  was  required  to 
explain  the  absence  of  the  weapon.  And  needless 
to  say,  the  necessary  hypothesis  was  to  the  fore  in  a 
twinkling.  If  the  famous  monarch  who  recklessly 
offered  his  kingdom  for  a  horse  had  called  for  an 
hypothesis  instead,  he  would  not  have  been  kept 
waiting  one  tenth  of  a  pulse-beat. 

In  the  present  instance,  Finnigan,  being  fully 
astride  the  main  murder  hypothesis,  had  a  led- 
horse  hypothesis  at  his  saddle  bow  in  an  instant. 

"The  murtherer  had  a  confederate,"  he  said. 
"He  got  away  with  the  gun  and  loot.  This  guy 
that  did  the  shooting" — indicating  Crosby,  who 
stood  with  blanched  face  and  a  dazed  expression— 
"admits  that  he  was  here  alone  when  it  happened, 


A  FRESH  CLUE  83 

while  all  the  rist  of  thim  was  up  on  the  roof.  He 
was  alone  after  his  pal  left.  Or  he  would  have 
been  alone  if  he  hadn't  had  his  nerve  with  him. 
He  had  the  nerve,  all  right — to  think  he  could 
put  over  a  game  like  that.  And  the  worst  of  it  is 
that  he  came  near  gettin*  away  with  it." 

Finnigan  cast  a  condescending  glance  at  Mc- 
Falcon.  And  without  a  doubt  his  remark  got 
over  the  footlights. 

But  McFalcon  now  showed  his  mettle.  Luck 
had  been  running  against  him,  but  his  wits  were 
working,  and  the  recent  developments  had  been 
more  to  his  liking  than  one  would  have  suspected. 
In  spite  of  his  demurrer,  he  had  instantly  recog- 
nized the  plausibility  of  Finnigan's  contention, 
both  as  to  the  manner  of  the  murder  and  the 
presence  of  an  accomplice.  Indeed,  the  thing 
had  been  so  obvious  that  he  dismissed  at  the 
outset  the  thought  that  a  revolver  would  be  found, 
and  set  himself  the  more  congenial  task  of  search- 
ing for  a  different  clue. 

And  while  the  others  were  making  their  futile 
search  for  the  weapon,  he  had  found  his  clue.  As 
Finnigan  taunted  him,  he  smiled  back  serenely 
and  beckoned  the  Inspector  to  his  side. 

"Take  a  slant  at  that,"  he  said,  with  an  attempt 
at  casualness,  holding  up  a  long  envelope. 


84         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

The  Inspector  gave  an  inarticulate  grunt  of 
surprise. 

"Where  did  you  get  it?"  he  queried. 

"Found  it  in  this  bunch  of  papers  that  the 
doctor  took  from  Theobold's  coat  pocket  at  the 
inquest  yesterday.  You  remember  he  said  they 
might  as  well  be  left  here  as  they  had  no  bearing 
on  the  case.  Forgot  to  use  his  eyes,  though.  How 
do  you  suppose  he  overlooked  that?" 

The  Inspector  gave  another  grunt,  indicating  an 
appropriate  degree  of  astonishment  and  full 
appreciation  of  the  medical  examiner's  mental 
obtuseness  and  lack  of  vision. 

"Pretty  a  finger  print  as  you  ever  saw,  ain't  it? 
Made  with  Theobold's  blood,  while  the  guy  was 
going  through  his  pockets.  This  letter  had  no 
value,  so  the  guy  didn't  take  it.  But  he  left  his 
mark  on  it,  and  with  that  to  guide  us  we'll  get  him 
as  sure  as  shooting.  No  need  to  care  about  the 
gun  now." 

Finnigan  was  an  eager  observer.  He  accepted 
the  new  find  as  adding  to  his  own  credentials. 

"Not  much  doubt  about  the  murtherer  now,  eh, 
McFalcon?  And  if  you  make  the  test  you  will 
find  that  this  secretary  guy  has  a  finger-print  to 
match  that  one." 

"Wrong  again,  Finnigan,  wrong  as  usual.     I 


A  FRESH  CLUE  85 

have  already  taken  a  finger-print  from  the  young 
man  while  you  were  looking  for  the  gun  you  didn't 
find,  and  his  print  is  altogether  different.  The 
fellow  who  made  this  mark  was  the  accomplice. 
Now  I'll  soon  run  him  down,  and  the  thing  will  be 
settled." 

Finger-prints  were  not  in  Finnigan's  line.  He 
realized  the  value  of  the  evidence,  but  now  he 
rather  resented  it,  for  he  felt  that  it  was  tending  to 
take  the  case  out  of  his  bailiwick  and  into  that  of 
his  rival;  and  he  had  the  uneasy  consciousness 
that  McFalcon  would  presently  be  fully  astride 
the  new  hypothesis,  get  control  of  the  situation, 
and  be  in  position  to  claim  full  credit  for  clearing 
up  the  entire  incident.  Still,  nothing  could  take 
from  him  the  satisfaction  of  having  been  first  to 
name  the  chief  malefactor. 

Crosby,  hi  the  meantime,  had  almost  collapsed 
into  a  chair,  and  was  sitting  with  his  head  resting 
in  his  palms  in  an  attitude  of  utter  dejection. 
Finnigan  put  a  hand  roughly  on  his  shoulder. 

"Always  wrong  am  I,  eh?  Who  spotted  the 
murtherer  at  sight,  when  no  one  else  could  see 
him?  Tell  me  that." 

But  McFalcon  smiled  only  the  more  exasperat- 
ingly. 

"Any  one  who  has  the  luck  to  get  there  first  can 


86         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

apprehend  the  criminal  who  is  still  on  the  job,"  he 
said.  "The  real  problem  here  is  to  apprehend  the 
accomplice.  That,  I  take  it,  is  my  part  of  the 
programme.  And  I  fancy  this  document  will  lead 
me  to  him." 

He  turned  again  to  the  inspection  of  the  in- 
criminating finger-print,  oblivious,  seemingly,  of 
the  presence  of  any  one;  and  from  the  intentness  of 
his  scrutiny  one  might  have  felt  that  he  intended 
there  and  then  to  substantiate  the  claim  some- 
times made  for  him  by  his  admirers,  that  he  could 
summon  up  at  will  and  construct  out  of  his  own 
consciousness  a  picture  of  any  criminal  from  the 
inspection  of  the  telltale  marks  of  that  criminal's 
finger — somewhat  as  the  professor  of  palentology 
at  college  is  believed  by  the  awed  students  to  be 
able  to  reconstruct  the  entire  body  of  an  ante- 
diluvian reptile  by  inspecting  the  smallest  of  its 
fossil  phalanges. 


CHAPTER 
Enter  the  Gypsy 

IT  WAS  doubtless  fortunate  for  Miss  Cynthia 
Collins  that  she  was  not  present  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  seance,  at  which  the  web  of 
crime  was  drawn  about  her  fiance. 

In  company  with  a  policeman,  she  had  gone  on  a 
mission  not  at  all  to  her  liking.  The  object  of  the 
quest  was  to  find,  if  possible,  the  woman  who, 
according  to  the  story  told  by  Crosby,  had  been 
with  Mr.  Theobold  a  few  minutes  before  his 
death. 

Miss  Collins  had  met  Senora  Cortez  several 
times,  and  had  conceived  a  strong  dislike  for  her, 
chiefly  no  doubt  because  the  woman  had  shown  a 
propensity  to  stand  and  chat  with  Crosby  on  her 
way  to  and  from  the  private  office,  although  the 
ostensible  object  of  her  visit  had  always  been  a 
consultation  with  Mr.  Theobold.  She  knew  that 
Senora  Cortez  often  came  to  the  city  on  a  morning 
train  from  Long  Island,  and  she  and  a  plain- 
clothes  man  had  been  sent  to  the  station  by  the 

87 


88         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Inspector  so  that  the  lady  might  be  identified  and 
intercepted. 

If  Crosby's  story  was  to  be  believed,  this  woman 
was  the  last  person  who  had  seen  Mr.  Theobold 
alive,  except  the  secretary  himself,  and  her  testi- 
mony as  to  what  occurred  in  that  interview  would 
have  obvious  interest,  if  not  actual  importance. 

The  quest  was  successful,  and  Miss  Collins  and 
the  detective  returned,  accompanied  by  the  woman 
in  question,  just  as  the  officers  had  given  up  search- 
ing for  a  revolver  and  had  witnessed  the  finger- 
print demonstration. 

It  was  not  obvious  at  first  glance  why  any  one 
should  have  characterized  the  newcomer  as  "the 
gypsy."  She  was  a  very  petite  and  a  very  demure 
person,  rather  fashionably  but  quietly  and  un- 
obtrusively garbed.  She  wore  no  jewels  of  any 
kind,  and  the  only  thing  gypsy-like  about  her,  to 
casual  inspection,  was  the  mass  of  jet-black  hair 
that  was  coiled  at  the  back  of  her  head.  Her  eyes, 
to  be  sure,  were  also  of  velvety  blackness,  but 
they  were  soft  and  alluring,  and  quite  without  the 
sinister  glitter  that  one  associates  with  the  eyes  of 
the  nomadic  sisterhood. 

The  woman's  face  was  unquestionably  beauti- 
ful; the  nose  was  classically  Grecian  in  its  outline, 
the  mouth  small  and  thin  lipped;  the  skin  pale 


ENTER  THE  GYPSY  89 

but  not  sallow,  yet  with  just  a  suspicion  of  olive, 
to  set  off  the  brilliant  whiteness  of  the  teeth  re- 
vealed when  she  smiled. 

She  smiled  now  in  the  most  gracious  manner, 
and  her  eyes  were  big  and  questioning,  but 
quite  unafraid,  as  she  extended  a  hand  to  the 
Inspector. 

"I  am  Senora  Cortez,"  she  murmured  in  a  voice 
that  revealed  just  enough  accent  to  give  it  charm. 
"My  friend  Miss  Collins  tells  me  that  you  wish  to 
see  me,  and  I  have  come.  This  gentleman  very 
courteously  escorted  us.  Oh,  it  is  very  terrible, 
the  death  of  Senor  Theobold.  He  was  my  good 
friend.  Only  yesterday:I  saw  him  here  so  well  and 
happy.  I  cannot  make  myself  believe  that  he  is 
gone.  It  is  terrible." 

"Please  sit  down,  Ma'am,"  the  Inspector  re- 
turned, assuming  his  most  courtly  tone  and 
manner.  "I  want  to  ask  you  a  few  things. 
Tell  me  what  you  know  about  this  case." 

"Most  gladly,  Senor.  But  I  fear  I  know  very 
little.  I  knew  Senor  Theobold  socially.  We 
became  good  friends.  He  advised  us  about  some 
business  matters — some  property  in  Mexico;  the 
purchase  of  some  stocks.  Only  yesterday  I  came 
to  consult  him.  I  was  to  have  seen  him  again 
to-day.  And  now — he  is  dead.  I  cannot  dream 


90         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

who  could  have  wished  to  kill  him.  He  was  our 
good  friend." 

"What  did  you  talk  about  yesterday  when  you 
were  here?" 

"Must  I  tell  everything?" 

"Just  that." 

"I  asked  him  to  return  some  papers  my  husband 
had  placed  with  him.  He  said  he  had  already 
sent  them  by  a  messenger.  Then  we  stood  a 
moment  at  the  window,  looking  up  at  the  airship, 
and  I  said  I  must  go,  and  he  said — something  of  no 
consequence;  and  I  went  out,  and  he  came  with  me 
to  the  outer  door." 

She  paused,  and  glanced  almost  appealingly 
from  one  to  another  of  the  persons  in  the  room; 
then  turned  again  to  the  Inspector,  and  seemed«to 
look  deep  into  his  eyes. 

"Oh,  no,  no!"  she  said  hi  a  tone  of  earnest 
entreaty.  "It  was  not  what  you  think;  cer- 
tainly not,  Senor.  We  were  good  friends,  nothing 
more.  It  was  true  that  my  husband  was  jealous — 
I  must  tell  you  all.  But  his  suspicions  were  quite 
silly.  Seflor  Theobold  was  his  friend  as  well  as 
mine." 

At  this  point  McFalcon,  who  was  still  ostensibly 
studying  the  finger-print  on  the  envelope  he  held 
in  his  hand,  looked  up  quickly,  with  an  expression 


ENTER  THE  GYPSY  91 

that  might  safely  be  interpreted  as  saying:  "Mem- 
orandum— Look  up  friend  Cortez,  and  finger-print 
him." 

Something  of  the  same  thought  apparently  came 
into  the  mind  of  the  Inspector,  for  he  queried 
with  more  animation  than  was  his  wont: 

"Where  is  he  now?" 

"My  husband?  He  is  doubtless  in  his  office. 
He  is  in  that  building  over  there."  She  stepped 
to  the  window  and  pointed.  "The  one  just  on 
the  other  side  of  Broadway.  Those  are  his  win- 
dows on  the  fifteenth  floorc  One  could  signal  him 
from  here." 

"H'm!  Is  that  so?"  And  at  that  moment, 
without  doubt,  there  grew  in  the  Inspector's  mind 
what  he,  as  a  man  addicted  to  monosyllables, 
would  probably  have  described  as  a  "clue,"  but 
what  had  the  earmarks  of  relation  to  one  of 
Finnigan's  hypotheses.  His  mask-like  face  did 
not  change,  however,  as  he  said  in  characteristic 
monotone  and  monosyllable: 

"I  think  I'll  get  you  to  go  down  in  my  car  and 
have  a  talk  with  one  of  my  men." 

"  I  shall  be  highly  honoured.  Is  it  to  the  police 
station  I  have  to  go? 

The  Inspector  nodded.  He  never  wasted  words 
when  look  or  gesture  would  serve  the  purpose. 


92         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Ah,  that  will  be  most  interesting.  I  have 
often  wished  to  visit  a  police  station.  I  so  greatly 
admire  you  splendid  men  in  uniform." 

"All  right.  Daly  will  take  you.  Mel,  'phone 
the  Doc  that  they're  coming." 

Senora  Cortez  smiled  a  gracious  adieu  as  she  left 
the  room.  Undoubtedly  she  had  a  most  engaging 
manner. 

McFalcon  stepped  to  the  'phone  and  gave  the 
message  as  directed.  As  he  hung  up  the  receiver, 
he  muttered,  seemingly  to  himself: 

"The  chief  falls  for  a  skirt  like  that  always,  and 
falls  hard."  Then  he  seemed  to  ruminate  for  a 
moment  before  he  added:  "But  she  is  some  skirt, 
I'll  admit." 

"Mel,"  said  the  Inspector,  "let's  go  over  and 
have  a  chat  with  the  little  dame's  husband.  I 
think  he  may  be  able  to  tell  us  a  thing  or  two  about 
this  murder." 

"I'm  with  you,"  said  the  detective.  "I  sure  do 
want  to  finger-print  that  gent.'* 


CHAPTER  IX 

A  Guilty  Man  or  an  Innocent  Man  with 
Imagination 

CORTEZ  received  his  visitors  with  suavity 
matching  that  of  his  wife.  The  traditional 
courtesy  of  the  Spanish  grandee  is  the 
common  heritage  of  the  descendents  of  the  men 
who  settled  the  South  American  continent.  Cor- 
tez  was  Brazilian  by  birth  and  training,  but  had 
lived  some  years  in  New  York,  first  as  an  attache 
of  the  Consulate,  and  later  in  private  business. 

If  the  Brazilian  was  surprised  at  this  presumably 
unexpected  call  from  two  police  officials,  nothing 
in  his  manner  showed  it. 

"We  are  from  the  station,"  said  the  Inspector, 
with  customary  blunt  directness.  "We  came  to 
have  a  talk  with  you." 

"I  am  highly  flattered,  gentlemen.  I  am  quite 
at  your  service.  What  can  I  do  for  you?  Permit 
me  to  offer  you  cigars.  I  wish  I  had  better  ones, 
but  these  at  least  are  of  pure  Brazilian  tobacco." 

The  Inspector  put  a  cigar  in  his  mouth  and  two 

93 


94         THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

in  his  pocket,  and  the  detective  followed  his  lead. 
Then  the  two  seated  themselves,  and  the  Inspector 
casually  motioned  Cortez  to  his  own  chair  at  the 
desk.  The  Inspector  fixed  his  eye  on  the  Bra- 
zilian's face,  but  the  detective  scrutinized  his  hand. 
He  was  eager  to  get  at  the  matter  of  the  finger- 
prints. 

Presently  the  Inspector  queried: 

"  Cortez,  where  were  you  when  the  bird-girl  was 
going  over?" 

"Yesterday  morning?  I  was  down  in  the  street 
— there  at  Broadway — just  as  she  passed  over  on 
her  way  back  to  the  Battery.  I  had  just  come 
from  my  home  on  Long  Island  and  was  walking 
from  the  Pennsylvania  Station.  Everyone  was 
looking  at  the  airplane,  and  I  stopped  to  see  it." 

"H'm!    What  time  did  you  get  here?" 

"Here  at  the  office?  It  was  about  twenty 
minutes  after  ten,  I  should  say.  The  train  was  a 
little  late.  It  should  reach  the  station  at  ten 
o'clock.  It  really  came  in  six  or  seven  minutes 
later.  I  usually  walk  to  the  office  in  four  or  five 
minutes;  but  yesterday,  as  I  said,  I  stopped  to 
look  at  the  airplane." 

"Did  you  speak  to  any  one  you  knew?" 

"No;  I  saw  no  one  that  I  knew.  I  was  there 
with  the  crowd,  and  I  may  have  made  a  casual 


GUILTY  MAN  OR  INNOCENT  MAN     95 

remark  to  some  stranger.     Everyone  was  talking. 
But  I  saw  nobody  that  I  knew." 

"I  thought  not."  The  Inspector  spoke  with 
suggestive  emphasis,  and  he  nodded  to  the  detec- 
tive, who  instantly  took  the  cue. 

"Cortez,  do  you  mind  touching  your  fingers  to 
this  ink  pad,  and  just  pressing  them  on  a  sheet  of 
paper. " 

The  detective  spoke  ingratiatingly.  His  voice 
had  a  rising  inflection.  But  there  was  no  question 
mark  after  the  meaning  of  his  comment.  His 
suggestion  was  a  command  and  not  a  request. 

"Senor!     What  do  you  mean?" 

"Nothing;  nothing  at  all.  But  I  am  making  a 
little  collection  of  finger-prints,  and  I  would  like  to 
take  a  glance  at  yours.  This  is  quite  unofficial,  you 
know — not  for  publication.  If  you  are  an  innocent 
man,  you  can  have  no  possible  objection." 

' '  An  innocent  man  ?     I  do  not  comprehend  you . '  * 

The  Brazilian  had  risen  to  his  feet.  His  face 
went  deathly  pale.  His  hands  trembled.  He 
glanced  from  the  Inspector  to  the  detective  and 
back  again  to  the  Inspector.  His  eyes  had 
an  expression  of  wonderment  verging  on  terror. 
Finally  he  gasped: 

"Of  what  do  you  accuse  me,  Senor?" 

"Never  mind  that.     Just  put  your  fingers  on 


96          THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

this  pad.  If  you  don't  care  to  do  it  here,  we'll 
hustle  down  to  the  police  station  and  have  it  done 
there." 

Cortez  settled  back  in  his  chair  and  seemed  on 
the  point  of  collapse.  But  he  put  out  his  hand 
and  pressed  his  fingers  to  the  ink  pad,  and  then 
on  the  paper,  without  further  protest.  The  detec- 
tive scrutinized  the  imprint  intently. 

"How  does  it  look?"  asked  the  Inspector. 

"Well  I  can't  say,  offhand.  There  is  undoubt- 
edly a  similarity,  but  I  am  not  prepared  to  say 
that  there  is  identity.  It  requires  study." 

He  folded  the  sheet  and  put  it  in  his  pocket. 

"Meantime,  I  suppose  you'll  have  no  objection 
to  having  us  look  around  a  bit,  Cortez.  Let  us 
see  what  you  have  hi  these  drawers,  for  example." 

The  detective  began  opening  the  drawers  of  the 
desk.  As  he  fumbled  in  the  bottom  of  one  of  them, 
he  gave  a  grunt  of  surprise  and  satisfaction. 

"Huh!  what  do  you  say  to  this,  Inspector?" 

He  held  aloft  a  big  military  revolver,  in  a  holster. 

McFalcon  took  the  weapon  from  the  holster,  and 
opened  it  to  examine  the  contents. 

"Hello!  Not  loaded,  eh?  Just  about  what  I 
thought." 

The  detective  held  the  barrel  to  the  light  and 
glanced  through  it. 


GUILTY  MAN  OR  INNOCENT  MAN    97 

"Clean  as  a  whistle,"  he  said.  "Thought  it 
would  be." 

He  fixed  his  professional  eye  intently  on  Cortez 
and  demanded: 

"How  long  since  you  have  shot  this?" 

"Not  since  I  have  been  in  America,  Senor. 
It  has  not  been  loaded  since  I  have  been  in  New 
York.  In  Brazil  I  carried  it — I  had  need  to  carry 
it.  But  not  here." 

"You  know  how  to  shoot  it,  I  suppose?" 

"To  be  sure.  Every  Brazilian  knows  how  to 
shoot.  I  can  shoot  better  than  some,  and  not  so 
well  as  others.  That  is,  I  could.  Now,  I  do  not 
know.  I  have  not  had  a  pistol  in  my  hand  for 
years." 

"Are  you  right  sure  you  didn't  have  this  pistol 
in  your  hand  yesterday?" 

"Never,  Senor.  I  have  not  taken  it  from  the 
case  for  many  weeks." 

The  Inspector,  meantime,  had  been  rummaging 
about  the  desk.  Now  he  interrupted: 

"See  here,  Mel,  what  do  you  make  of  this?" 

He  exhibited  a  large  envelope  bearing  the  name 
of  Theobold  &  Co.  and  pointed  significantly  to  the 
postmark.  It  bore  the  stamp  of  a  Brooklyn 
station,  and  the  date  of  July  8th;  the  hour  6:30. 

"Mailed   in   Brooklyn   after  office   hours   last 


98 

night.  Directed  by  hand  instead  of  with  a  type- 
writer. A  bit  odd,  eh?  Now  I'd  just  like  to  know 
whose  script  that  is — then  we  might  be  on  the 
track  of  something." 

The  Inspector  was  examining  the  contents  of  the 
envelope. 

"Can't  make  much  of  this  thing,"  he  said. 
"It  looks  to  me  like  the  plans  for  a  bomb  or 
something  of  that  sort.  Cortez,  I  think  we  will 
ask  you  to  come  with  us  to  the  station.  Bring 
along  the  gun,  Mel." 

Cortez  picked  up  his  hat  and  followed  the 
Inspector  with  the  aspect  and  manner  of  a  man 
who  is  marching  to  the  gallows.  The  detective 
came  after,  having  taken  the  precaution  to  feel 
the  Brazilian's  pockets  to  make  sure  that  no 
weapon  was  concealed. 

"Guilty,  all  right,"  he  mused,  hah*  aloud,  "or 
else  only  scared.  Darned  if  I  know  which. 
Perhaps  the  fellow  has  some  imagination,  and  sees 
that  it  looks  like  we've  caught  him  with  the  goods. 
Maybe  we  have  and  maybe  we  haven't.  Any- 
how, if  he  knows  anything  we  are  pretty  likely  to 
get  it  out  of  him." 

As  they  came  to  the  Inspector's  automobile, 
the  detective  paused  and  jerked  his  thumb  in  the 
direction  of  the  Schuyler  Building. 


GUILTY  MAN  OR  INNOCENT  MAN  99 

"I  think  I'll  run  over  and  see  what's  doing  in 
Theobold's  office,"  he  said. 

The  remark  seemed  to  affect  Cortez  like  an 
electric  shock.  He  turned  on  the  detective  with  an 
eager,  frightened  look. 

"Theobold?"  he  whispered.  "Senor  Theobold 
is  dead?" 

"Yes,  dead  as  a  door  nail.  Somebody  shot  him 
with  a  pistol  just  about  like  yours." 

"Senor!" 

The  Brazilian's  lips  seemed  to  frame  a  question, 
but  no  further  sound  came  from  them.  He 
merely  stared  at  the  detective,  and  the  pupils  of 
his  eyes  dilated,  his  face  blanched  to  that  ghastly 
almost  greenish  colour  that  for  the  olive-skinned 
is  the  counterpart  of  pallor. 

"You  knew  Theobold,  I  take  it." 

"Yes,  Senor,  I  knew  him — a  little.  But  I  have 
not  seen  him  for  more  than  a  week.  Senor,  you  do 
not  think  that  I  saw  him  yesterday?  You  do  not 
think " 

"Never  mind  what  we  think,  Cortez,"  broke  in 
the  Inspector.  "Come.  We  want  to  find  out 
what  you  think — what  you  know" 

The  automobile  rolled  away,  and  McFalcon 
crossed  Sixth  Avenue  and  walked  along  Thirty- 
first  Street  to  the  Schuyler  Building. 


CHAPTER  X 
When  Doctors  Disagree 

A'  THEOBOLD'S  office  McFalcon  found 
an  excited  and  disconsolate  company. 
Miss  Collins  met  him  with  tears  in  her 
voice  if  not  in  her  eyes.  Jack  Henley's  expressive 
face  fairly  revealed  the  apprehension  that  was  in 
his  mind.  And  Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De 
Lage,  who  were  presented  to  the  detective  as 
friends  and  business  associates  of  Mr.  Theobold, 
showed  by  their  gravity  of  demeanour  that  they 
felt  a  sense  of  personal  bereavement  or  were  keenly 
in  sympathy  with  the  others. 

The  detective  looked  from  one  of  these  new- 
comers to  the  other  with  a  searching  glance. 
Presumably  he  was  photographing  their  faces  on 
his  brain.  Presently  he  spoke: 

"Doctor  Harris,  I  understand  that  you  and  the 
Captain  were  here  to  see  Mr.  Theobold  yesterday." 

"Yes;  we  were  here  for  a  few  minutes  having  a 
business  conference.  We  left  about  9 :30,  and  Mr. 
Theobold  sent  us  to  our  office  in  his  motor.  We 

100 


WHEN  DOCTORS  DISAGREE        101 

had  been  there  about  a  half  an  hour,  I  should  say, 
when  someone  telephoned  from  here  and  told  us 
of  his  death.  That  was  about  10:30,  wasn't  it, 
Captain  De  Lage?" 

"  Oui,  Monsieur;  exactly  10:30.  I  recall  looking 
at  my  watch  at  the  time." 

There  was  striking  contrast  between  the  Cap- 
tain's manner  and  the  modest  bearing  of  Doctor 
Harris,  as  the  latter  said  by  way  of  further  ex- 
planation : 

"  Captain  De  Lage  and  I  have  an  office  together 
over  in  Brooklyn.  We  are  working  on  some 
military  inventions.  Mr.  Theobold  was  inter- 
ested in  some  of  them  to  the  extent  of  giving  us 
some  financial  assistance.  We  came  here  yester- 
day partly  to  thank  him  for  his  aid,  and  to  bring 
him  an  appreciative  word  from  representatives  of 
the  French  and  the  Italian  governments — Mon- 
sieur Cambon  and  Signer  Gardini.  These  gentle- 
men, by  the  way,  were  waiting  for  us  at  our  office 
when  we  reached  there  yesterday  morning,  and 
they  were  still  with  us,  discussing  the  invention, 
when  the  telephone  message  told  us  of  Theobold 's 
death." 

Captain  De  Lage  took  up  the  conversation. 
But  he  appeared  to  address  Miss  Collins  rather 
than  the  detective  as  he  said: 


102        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Om;  and  even  now  Monsieur  Harris  and  I 
have  called  upon  Madame  Theobold  to  express 
our  sympathy  and  convey  the  condolences  of 
Monsieur  Cambon  and  Monsieur  Gardini.  It  had 
been  arranged  that  we  were  all  to  dine  with  Mon- 
sieur and  Madame  Theobold  last  night.  We  are 
vraiment  bereaved." 

As  the  Captain  then  endeavoured  to  engage  Miss 
Collins  in  conversation,  Doctor  Harris  turned  to 
the  detective  and  inquired  with  solicitude: 

"On  what  conceivable  grounds  have  they  taken 
Crosby  into  custody?" 

"We  couldn't  do  anything  else.  He  admits 
that  he  was  in  this  room  alone  when  Theobold  was 
killed  just  in  there  beyond  that  thin  partition. 
There  wasn't  any  way  for  the  man  that  killed  him 
to  get  in  or  out  without  coming  through  this  room. 
And  how  could  he  come  through  this  room  with- 
out Crosby  seeing  him?" 

"Might  he  not  conceivably  have  used  a  fire 
ladder  and  come  up  from  a  room  below,  or  down 
from  a  room  above?  Or  perhaps  by  a  rope  from 
thereof?" 

"With  about  a  hundred  people  on  the  roof,  and 
about  five  thousand  down  there  on  Broadway  and 
along  Sixth  Avenue,  and  on  the  roofs  of  those 
lower  buildings  over  there — all  of  them  looking  up. 


WHEN  DOCTORS  DISAGREE        103 

Good  chance  for  a  second-story  man  under  those 
circumstances,  wasn't  there?  Not  on  your  life." 

"But  how  about  the  airplane?  They  tell  me 
it  was  flying  over  just  about  the  time  this  hap- 
pened. Captain  De  Lage  here  and  I  were  watch- 
ing it  from  my  office  window,  over  in  Brooklyn. 
The  aviatrix  seemed  to  drop  a  lot  of  bombs  that 
exploded  midway  in  the  air.  Captain  De  Lage 
said  they  were  bombs  with  a  fuse,  timed  to  explode 
way  above  the  tops  of  the  buildings.  But  he 
suggests  that  she  may  have  misjudged  her  distance, 
or  that  a  bomb  may  have  failed  to  explode  com- 
pletely, and  sent  a  fragment  through  the  window 
here." 

"Oui,  Monsieur,  "broke  in  the  Captain,  excitedly, 
gesticulating  in  characteristic  fashion.  "I  have 
been  a  member  of  the  aviation  corps,  off  there  by 
Verdun.  About  bombs — surely,  yes,  I  know 
something.  Bombs  may  be  timed  to  explode  in 
any  distance.  It  would  be  quite  safe  to  drop  a 
bomb  from  an  airplane  right  over  us  here,  if  the 
airplane  is  high  enough,  and  if  there  is  no  mis- 
take. The  modern  high  explosive  shatters  the 
bomb  into  little  splinters.  And  these,  falling  a 
short  distance,  can  do  no  harm." 

"Hold  on,  Captain,"  the  detective  interrupted, 
"they  tell  me  that  even  a  pin  dropped  from  one  of 


104       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

them  airplanes  might  kill  a  man  if  il  hit  him 
down  here." 

"  C'est  vrai,  Monsieur,  c'est  vrai.  So  it  would  be. 
But  only  if  it  came  from  very  high.  From  the 
airplane  where  it  was  yesterday — surely,  yes. 
But  the  bomb  would  be  timed  to  explode  only  one 
hundred  metres  above  the  tops  of  the  building,  and 
from  there  the  splinters  would  do  no  harm, 
especially  if  the  bomb  was  made  of  lead." 

"Wouldn't  get  momentum  enough,  eh?"  The 
detective  was  evidently  impressed,  and,  in  the 
presence  of  this  expert,  anxious  to  show  his  own 
knowledge,  even  while  acquiring  information. 

"Precisely  so.  Not  enough  momentum.  But 
suppose,  now,  that  one  bomb  was  badly  made, 
suppose  it  had  not  a  good  explosive.  It  might 
not  explode  on  time,  and  when  it  did  go  off  it 
might  break  the  shell  only  into  large  pieces,  and 
one  of  these  might  be  driven  through  the  window 
and  cause  the  accident  here.  I  am  told  that 
the  missile  looked  something  like  a  piece  of  a 
bomb." 

"I've  got  it  here  in  my  pocket,  and  you  can  see 
for  yourself  what  it  looks  like." 

The  detective  produced  a  wallet,  and  extracted  a 
wad  of  paper  which  he  unwrapped  carefully. 
Finally  he  exposed  and  held  in  his  hand  the  object 


WHEN  DOCTORS  DISAGREE        105 

that  David  Webster  and  Miss  Collins  had  found 
in  the  safe. 

"There;  what  do  you  make  of  it?" 

The  Captain  made  a  ceremonious  gesticulation, 
and  bent  over  the  object  in  about  the  manner, 
probably,  that  Marshal  Foch  might  have  assumed 
when  inspecting  military  plans  preparatory  to 
deciding  on  some  vast  offensive  movement  along 
three  or  four  hundred  miles  of  trenches.  He 
turned  the  object  over,  inspecting  it  from  all  sides 
and  all  angles.  Finally  he  spoke: 

"Monsieur,  I  express  with  diffidence  an  opinion. 
You  also  are  an  expert.  I  defer  to  your  judg- 
ment. Yet  I  have  had  experience  a  little.  I  was 
not  only  at  Verdun  but  on  the  Somme,  in  Picardy — 
all  along  the  line.  I  have  examined  fragments 
of  many,  many  exploded  shells.  But  I  would  not 
be  dogmatique.  I  defer  to  your  judgment. 
What  does  Monsieur  think?  " 

"Never  mind  what  I  think,  Captain.  1*11  tell 
you  that  later.  You  have  seen  a  lot  more  bombs 
and  bullets  than  I  have,  and  I  want  to  know  how 
this  looks  to  you." 

"Ah,  you  insist?  Then  I  must  tell  you.  I  am 
not  positive.  I  am  not  quite  sure.  But  to  me  it 
looks  very  much  a  fragment  of  a  bomb.  If  I  must 
give  an  opinion,  I  would  say  that  the  thing  hap- 


106       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

pened  as  I  have  suggested.  It  is  lamentable.  I 
weep  for  my  friend  who  but  yesterday  was  here 
with  us  alive.  It  was  a  terrible  accident.  It  is 
bad  enough  that  men  should  be  killed  in  war,  but 
in  times  of  peace  it  is  horrible." 

"That  all  sounds  pretty  good,  Captain.  But 
just  kindly  tell  me  what  you  make  of  this.  When 
we  came  to  search  the  pockets  of  Mr.  Theobold  we 
found  that  someone  had  been  over  him  ahead  of 
us,  and  left  a  bloody  finger-print  on  an  envelope. 
Bombs  are  all  right,  but  they  don't  leave  finger- 
prints, do  they?" 

"Ah,  Monsieur,  you  astound  me.  Is  it  possible? 
That,  of  course,  gives  the  matter  quite  another  as- 
pect. Perhaps  after  all  this  may  not  be  a  fragment 
of  a  bomb;  perhaps  it  may  be  a  bullet  from  a  revol- 
ver. Striking  against  the  steel  safe,  it  would  be  all 
flat  and  distorted.  It  might  look  like  this.  I  do  not 
say.  I  have  not  said  that  it  is  a  piece  of  a  bomb. 
I  only  said  it  might  be.  But  the  finger-prints! 
Ah,  that  is  most  interesting  and  most  suspicious." 

"Yes,  it  is  a  bit  suspicious.  That's  why  we 
took  our  secretary  friend  out  here  in  custody.  He 
couldn't  explain  anything.  Wouldn't  talk  about 
it,  except  to  just  stick  to  his  story,  claiming  that  he 
was  in  the  office  all  alone  and  that  no  one  came  in  or 
went  out.  Doesn't  look  good,  does  it?" 


WHEN  DOCTORS  DISAGREE        107 

"But  the  finger-print — it  was  not  made  by 
Monsieur,  the  secretary?" 

"No.  But  it's  pretty  evident  that  it  was  made 
by  a  pal  of  his.  He  saw  the  fellow  come  and  go; 
you  can  bet  your  boots  on  that.  But  he  didn't 
know  the  fellow  had  left  any  trademarks  to 
trace  him  by.  He  didn't  think  there  would  be  any 
evidence  that  he  had  a  pal.  So  he  thought  his 
best  way  was  to  sit  right  there  on  the  job  and  try 
to  look  careless.  Figured,  no  doubt,  that  we 
would  think  it  was  a  bomb  from  the  airplane 
that  killed  him,  just  as  you  thought  it  was.  I 
thought  so  myself  at  first.'* 

"So  I  have  heard,"  said  Harris,  smiling  just 
perceptibly. 

"Well,  the  best  of  us  go  wrong  sometimes.  But 
a  little  thing  puts  us  on  the  track,  and  once  we  are 
on  it  isn't  so  easy  to  throw  us  off  again.  No,  siree, 
Captain.  I  have  great  respect  for  your  judg- 
ment, as  a  man  of  experience.  But  you  miscued 
on  it  this  time,  same  as  I  did  at  first.  Now  I  know 
that  Mr.  Theobold  was  shot,  and  shot  with  a  pistol. 
And  I  think  I  know  who  did  it.  It  wasn't  Crosby, 
though  he  was  in  the  game.  It  wasn't  the  chap 
who  made  the  finger-prints,  though  of  course  he 
was  in  the  game,  too.  They  have  another  pal  who 
did  the  shooting.  And  I  think  I  know  who  he  is. 


108        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

I  have  seen  him,  and  seen  the  gun  he  did  the  shoot- 
ing with.  And  between  ourselves,  they  are  down 
at  the  station  house  now." 

The  Captain  gave  every  evidence  of  being 
profoundly  impressed.  He  dwelt  on  each  sen- 
tence, partly  perhaps  because  he  did  not  under- 
stand the  language  very  well,  but  chiefly  because 
of  his  astonishment.  He  even  forgot  to  gesticu- 
late as  he  said : 

"Marvellous!  Incomprehensible!  Monsieur, 
let  me  congratulate  you.  I  had  heard  of  the 
great  detective,  Monsieur  McFalcon.  I  am  proud 
to  have  met  him.  But  ah !  I  weep  for  monsieur, 
the  secretary.  He  is  so  quiet,  so  polite  a  man,  I 
could  not  believe " 

The  Captain's  speech  came  to  an  inarticulate 
end.  He  seemed  to  reflect  on  something  that 
caused  him  to  shrug  his  shoulders,  lift  his  eyebrows, 
and  slowly  raise  his  hands,  palms  upward.  He 
beckoned  the  detective  and  Doctor  Harris  to  the 
farther  corner  of  the  room. 

"Ah,  I  remember,  I  remember,"  he  murmured. 
"It  is  the  old  story.  Cherchez  la  femme.  I  had 
forgotten.  Yesterday  when  we  came,  Monsieur 
the  secretary  was  quarreling  with  the  beautiful 
mademoiselle.  He  was  very  angry.  He  spoke 
like  one  in  a  jealous  rage.  And  as  we  came 


WHEN  DOCTORS  DISAGREE        109 

through  the  door,  before  he  saw  us,  I  heard  him 
mention  the  name  of  Theobold.  Ah,  one  can 
understand  this  better  now." 

Another  expressive  shrug  of  the  shoulders.  A 
deprecating  gesticulation  of  the  hands.  Then  he 
added: 

"Monsieur  the  doctor  and  I  spoke  of  it  after- 
ward, as  we  were  riding  away  in  the  automobile. 
You  remember,  monsieur?" 

"Yes,  Captain.  I  do  remember.  But  I  should 
have  preferred  not  to  mention  it.  It  was  a  petty 
lovers'  quarrel,  which  probably  meant  nothing,  and 
might  easily  be  magnified  into  the  motive  for  a 
criminal  act.  Circumstances  at  the  moment  seem 
to  point  suspiciously  to  it.  But  life  is  a  curious 
game  of  chance.  What  real  evidence,  after  all,  is 
there  to  connect  Crosby  positively  with  the  crime?" 

The  detective  gesticulated  impatiently. 

"They  tell  me  you  are  a  great  inventor,  Doc. 
And  in  some  ways  you'd  think  an  inventor  ought 
to  be  something  of  a  detective.  But  I  suppose 
it  is  your  business  to  figure  out  things  that  might 
be  from  things  that  ain't;  while  it's  ours  to  figure 
out  things  that  have  been  from  things  that  are. 
And  the  things  that  are,  in  this  case,  consist  of  a 
dead  man  in  this  office  with  a  bullet  hole  through 
him,  and  a  live  man  who  claims  to  know  nothing 


110       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

about  it,  in  that  other  office,  through  the  parti- 
tion, together  with  papers  missing  from  the  safe 
and  a  bloody  finger-print  on  an  envelope  in  the 
dead  man's  pocket." 

McFalcon  was  now  in  his  element.  He  was 
well  pleased  with  himself  seemingly;  and  he 
punctuated  his  exposition  with  gesticulations 
worthy  of  De  Lage  himself. 

"Now  suppose  we  assume,  with  the  Captain 
here,  that  this  piece  of  metal  is  part  of  a  bomb  that 
came  through  the  window.  All  right.  That 
seems  to  let  our  live  friend  in  the  other  office  out  of 
it.  But  who  took  the  papers  from  the  safe?  And 
who  made  the  finger-prints?  And  what  was  our 
live  man  doing  when  the  fellow  that  took  the 
papers  and  made  the  prints  went  by  his  desk,  not 
two  feet  away?  Our  live  man  doesn't  claim  to 
have  been  asleep.  He'd  been  quarrelling  with  his 
girl  only  a  few  minutes  before,  and  a  man  doesn't 
go  to  sleep  when  he  is  good  and  mad.  He'd  been 
quarrelling  about  the  man  who  was  killed,  too." 

The  detective  paused,  as  if  to  let  the  force  of 
his  presentation  strike  home.  He  scrutinized  the 
object  in  his  hand. 

"The  rest  of  it  is  that  this  thing,  with  all  due 
respect  to  the  Captain,  is  a  bullet — a  revolver 
bullet.  It's  all  flattened  out  of  shape,  as  why 


WHEN  DOCTORS  DISAGREE        111 

wouldn't  it  be  after  it  ran  against  a  steel  safe  after 
going  through  a  man?  But  it  was  a  bullet,  and  it 
was  shot  out  of  a  gun." 

The  speaker  threw  his  right  hand  forward  with 
a  jerk,  his  finger  extended  pistol-like. 

"The  bullet  was  found  lying  there  in  the  safe, 
where  the  papers  had  been.  So  the  papers  were 
taken  out  before  the  bullet  was  fired — eh?  Theo- 
bold  himself  must  have  taken  them  out.  He 
went  over  there  to  the  safe  to  get  them,  and 
kneeled  down  to  reach  for  them — he  was  pretty 
fat,  you  know,  and  couldn't  stoop  very  well — and 
the  fellow  put  a  bullet  through  him.  He  jumps 
up  and  turns  on  the  fellow,  makes  a  dive  for  him, 
and  falls  dead  there  by  the  window." 

Another  impressive  pause. 

"But  he  didn't  have  the  papers  in  his  hand 
when  we  found  him  there,  did  he?  They  weren't 
lying  over  by  the  safe,  or  anywhere  else  in  sight, 
were  they?  The  papers  were  valuable.  You  bet 
they  were.  Now  who  took  them?  The  young 
lady  up  there  in  the  airplane  that  was  dropping 
bombs  didn't  get  them — that  is  sure.  Who  did  get 
them  if  it  wasn't  our  young  friend  in  the  next  room 
or  one  of  his  pals?  Pretty  hard  question  to 
answer,  eh,  Doc?  Well,  that  is  the  kind  of  facts 
we  are  dealing  with  and  they  come  pretty  near 


112        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

showing   that    two   and    two   make   four,   don't 
they?" 

At  the  mention  of  papers  Doctor  Harris  seemed 
on  the  point  of  interrupting,  but  the  Captain  made 
a  quick  gesture  of  entreaty  and  brought  his  finger 
to  his  lips.  He  was  standing  back  of  the  detective, 
and  so  was  not  seen  by  him.  The  doctor  inter- 
preted the  gesture  and  was  silent. 

A  moment  later,  as  the  detective  turned  away, 
De  Lage  whispered:  "Do  not  forget  yourself, 
Monsieur.  Those  papers  are  secret  documents 
that  now  belong  to  the  government  of  France. 
There  must  be  no  hint  of  their  existence." 

"Quite  right,  Captain.  Those  can't  be  the 
papers  he  refers  to,  anyway.  They  have  no 
possible  bearing  on  the  case.  But  we  must  see 
what  we  can  do  for  poor  Crosby.  I  simply  can't 
believe " 

The  Captain  interrupted  with  a  gesture  and  a 
significant  nod  of  his  head. 

"It  is  hard  to  believe.  But  when  there  is  a 
beauty  like  Mademoiselle  yonder  to  fight  for — 
what  may  one  believe  not?  For  her  one  would 
gladly  cross  the  foils  with  Monsieur  Theobold  or 
with  any  one." 

The  Captain  was  waxing  enthusiastic.  But  his 
discourse  was  interrupted  by  Jack  Henley,  whose 


WHEN  DOCTORS  DISAGREE        113 

face  suddenly  peered  from  the  door  of  the  private 
office,  wearing  an  expression  that  suggested  sup- 
pressed excitement.  The  boy  appeared  to  steady 
his  voice,  and  his  calm  tones  belied  his  look  and 
manner  as  he  said: 

"Gentlemen,  please  come  here  a  moment.     I 
think  I  have  discovered  something." 


CHAPTER  XI 

Jack  Henley's  Discovery  and  What  Came  of  It 

JACK'S    object    in    going   into    the    private 
office  a  few  minutes  earlier  had  been    to 
take   some   photographs.     He   was   an   en- 
thusiastic amateur  photographer,  and  he  had  not 
forgotten,  the  day  before,  even  in  the  midst  of 
the  excitement,  to  take  a  number  of  snapshots. 
Each  one  had  been  carefully  autographed,  and 
dated.     Also  the  exact  hour  and  minute  in  which 
it  was  taken  was  noted  as  well  as  the  aperture  used 
and  the  time  of  exposure. 

He  had  developed  this  methodical  habit  because 
he  was  making  a  scientific  study  of  the  art  of 
photography.  In  fact,  he  did  everything  in  that 
methodical  and  precise  way,  which  was  one 
reason  why  Theobold  had  had  such  confidence  in 
him. 

He  went  ahead  now  taking  various  pictures, 
chiefly  because  he  wished  to  complete  his  ten- 
roll  film,  that  he  might  develop  it  and  see  the 
results. 

114 


JACK  HENLEY'S  DISCOVERY       115 

He  took  one  snapshot  from  the  doorway,  show- 
ing the  corner  of  the  room  where  the  body  of  Theo- 
bold  had  been  found,  and  where  the  outline  of  a 
pool  of  blood  was  still  distinctly  visible.  Then  he 
opened  the  safe,  and  took  a  photograph  of  its 
interior,  showing  the  damaged  ledger  and  giving 
a  view — at  least  he  hoped  it  would  show — of  the 
battered  place  where  the  missile  had  struck. 

The  missile  itself,  of  course,  was  no  longer 
there.  He  hesitated  for  a  moment  whether  to  ask 
the  detective  to  place  it  where  it  had  been  found 
for  the  benefit  of  his  photograph.  But  he  had 
not  quite  the  assurance  to  do  this,  and  went  ahead 
without  that  interesting  addition. 

The  ninth  film  of  his  roll  had  been  exposed,  and 
he  was  casting  about  critically  to  decide  what 
view  should  be  selected  for  the  tenth,  when  his 
eyes  saw  something  that  brought  his  boy-scout 
instinct  to  full  "attention." 

He  was  standing  at  the  moment  against  the 
wall  beside  the  clock,  at  the  end  of  the  room 
opposite  the  entrance  door,  and  a  few  feet  beyond 
the  desk.  And  what  had  caught  his  eye  was  a 
mark  like  a  deep,  jagged  scratch  which  ran  along 
the  panel  at  the  end  of  the  desk,  ending — or 
beginning — with  a  jagged  splinter  that  showed  the 
fresh  colour  of  the  unstained  wood. 


116       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Jack  felt  very  certain  that  he  had  never  seen 
that  mark  before.  He  came  close  to  examine  it. 
Then,  instantly,  he  knew  its  meaning;  for  there 
at  the  splintered  place  just  above  the  telephone 
bracket  was  a  tiny  fragment  of  gray  cloth  wedged 
into  the  jagged  outline  of  the  freshly  made  groove. 
It  was  only  a  shred,  yet  enough  to  show  beyond 
question  that  its  colour  matched  the  gray  coat  that 
Theobold  had  worn  the  day  before. 

Without  stopping  to  analyze  the  meaning  of  his 
discovery,  Jack  rushed  to  the  door,  and  summoned 
the  detective  and  his  associates. 

As  they  now  clustered  about  the  end  of  the 
desk,  no  one  at  first  seemed  disposed  to  attach 
great  significance  to  the  scratch. 

"That  mark  was  made  by  the  bullet,  all  right," 
said  McFalcon.  "And  that  is  a  bit  of  Theobold's 
coat  that  the  bullet  carried  away  as  it  went  through 
him." 

He  sighted  along  the  groove  and  saw  that  it 
aimed  directly  into  the  safe,  which  stood  five  or 
•six  feet  beyond.  Then  a  thought  came  to  him 
that  seemed  to  please  him,  for  he  smiled  broadly 
as  he  said: 

"And  that  does  away  with  Finnigan's  fancy 
story  about  Theobold  kneeling  over  by  the  safe  at 
the  time  he  was  shot.  The  bullet  had  gone  through 


JACK  HENLEY'S  DISCOVERY       117 

him,  as  this  bit  of  cloth  proves,  before  it  got  over 
there  by  the  safe  at  all." 

He  pulled  at  his  moustache  reflectively,  appeared 
to  meditate  profoundly,  nodded  his  head  two  or 
three  times,  and  added: 

"Yes;  you  can't  get  around  it.  Theobold  was 
sitting  right  there  in  his  chair,  leaning  over 
toward  the  telephone,  when  the  bullet  hit  him. 
The  guy  that  croaked  him  stood  just  behind  him 
there  by  the  window,  and  bored  a  hole  right  where 
it  would  do  the  most  good.  I  knew  all  along 
Finnigan  didn't  have  the  right  dope  on  the  thing. 
But  it  will  make  him  sore  when  I  tell  him  about 
it."  He  chuckled. 

Jack  Henley  spoke  up  eagerly: 

"I  wonder  if  he  wasn't  telephoning  at  the  very 
minute  when  he  was  shot?  I  just  remember 
something.  I  was  up  at  Mr.  Theobold's  house 
when  it  must  have  happened.  Mrs.  Theobold 
was  in  the  library.  She  was  telephoning  to  Mr. 
Theobold,  and  he  had  answered,  and  then  ap- 
peared to  ring  off,  because  she  spoke  two  or  three 
times  more  before  she  hung  up  the  receiver,  and 
then  said  to  me,  'Oh,  well,  he  rang  off,  but  it 
doesn't  matter.  I  only  wanted  to  tell  him  that  the 
doctor  said  he  would  call  for  us  promptly  at  7:30. 
You  can  tell  him  that  for  me,  Jack.'  Then  she 


118        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

said,  'All  right;  we'll  be  ready  and  expecting  you/ 
into  the  other  telephone,  and  hung  up  that  re- 
ceiver." 

"The  other  telephone?'*  queried  the  detective. 
"What  do  you  mean?" 

"Why,  you  see,  there  are  two  telephones  on  the 
table  in  the  library.  •  One  of  them  is  a  direct  wire, 
and  the  other  connects  up  with  the  central  down  in 
the  entrance  hall  of  the  apartment  house.  Some- 
body called  her  up  on  this  'phone,  and  she  was 
using  the  other  to  talk  with  Mr.  Theobold.  I 
suppose  it  was  some  invitation,  and  she  had  to 
find  out  whether *he  would  accept." 

"That  is  precisely  what  it  was,"  said  Doctor 
Harris.  "The  Captain  here  knows  all  about  it. 
There  were  two  gentlemen  with  us  in  the  office 
yesterday  morning  as  I  told  you,  and  one  of  them, 
Mr.  Cambon,  said  that  he  would  like  very  much 
to  meet  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Theobold.  He  suggested 
that  we  make  up  a  party  and  all  go  to  a  roof 
garden  as  his  guests  for  the  evening.  So  I  called 
up  Mrs.  Theobold  and  gave  the  message.  You 
remember  it,  Captain  De  Lage?  " 

" Certainly,  yes.  Monsieur  Cambon,  my  friend, 
asked  you  to  give  the  invitation  for  him,  because 
he  does  not  very  well  speak  English.  We  sat  on 
either  side  of  you  at  the  desk  while  you  were 


JACK  HENLEY'S  DISCOVERY       119 

'phoning,  and  I  could  hear  Madame  Theobold's 
voice,  though  not  what  she  said.  But  you  told 
us  her  message.  She  would  ask  Monsieur  Theo- 
bold.  She  would  'phone  him  at  once.  You 
waited  a  moment,  and  the  message  came  that  he 
had  said  'yes'.  He  had  another  engagement,  but 
would  cancel  it  to  be  with  us.  We  were  to  call  for 
them  in  Monsieur  Cambon's  automobile  at  7:30; 
they  would  be  ready.  And,  alas!  in  that  very 
hour,  perhaps  before  another  minute  had  passed, 
Monsieur  Theobold  was  dead." 

Miss  Collins  had  joined  the  party  and  was 
listening  eagerly. 

"I  just  recall  something,"  she  said.  "I  had 
quite  forgotten  it.  When  we  found  Mr.  Theobold 
lying  dead  there,  and  I  ran  to  the  telephone,  to 
call  the  police  and  the  doctor,  I  found  the  re- 
ceiver off  the  hook  and  lying  there  on  the  desk.  It 
is  strange  that  I  should  have  forgotten  it,  because  I 
remember  now  that  I  had  to  press  the  hook  again 
and  again  before  I  could  get  central.  Evidently 
the  person  on  the  other  end  of  the  line  had  hung 
up  and  the  line  was  still  connected.  And  from 
what  Jack  says  and  what  Doctor  Harris  and  Cap- 
tarn  De  Lage  say,  it  must  have  been  Mrs.  Theo- 
bold who  was  talking  to  him.  And  he  must  have 
been  killed  at  the  very  moment  when  he  had  the 


120       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

receiver  in  his  hand  and  was  answering  Mrs. 
Theobold." 

The  detective  nodded  his  head  approvingly. 
He  was  reflecting  that  all  this,  when  related  as  a 
discovery  of  his  own,  would  quite  take  the  starch 
out  of  Finnigan.  Now  his  comment  was: 

"I  reckon  we  have  it  doped  out  about  right." 

Then  the  trail-following  instinct  seemed  to  have 
carried  him  off  on  a  new  track,  for  he  turned  to 
Doctor  Harris,  and  said,  quite  casually : 

"By  the  way,  Doc,  you  don't  happen  to  have 
two  telephones  together  in  your  office,  do  you?" 

The  doctor  smiled,  as  if  amused  at  the  detec- 
tive's mental  quirk. 

"No;  I  find  one  rather  too  many,  as  I  am 
constantly  being  interrupted  when  I'm  at  work. 
You  haven't  noticed  any  second  telephone  in  our 
office,  have  you,  Captain  De  Lage?" 

"A  second  telephone?  No,  indeed.  Why  should 
we  have  two  telephones  ?  In  London  it  is  necessary, 
I  know,  because  there  are  two  telephone  systems. 
But  here  in  New  York,  I  have  understood,  there 
is  but  one.  I  do  not  quite  understand  why  Mrs. 
Theobold  has  two  telephones." 

No  one  took  the  trouble  to  enlighten  him,  for 
everyone  else  did  understand.  The  detective, 
seemingly  satisfied  to  abandon  a  clue  that  led  him 


JACK  HENLEY'S  DISCOVERY       121 

nowhere,  set  out  to  evolve  other  theories  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  new  evidence. 

"Must  have  swung  around  in  his  chair,  leaned 
over  like  this  toward  the  telephone,  and  rested 
his  left  arm  here  on  the  desk,"  he  meditated. 

"Yes,"  said  Miss  Collins.  "That's  the  way  he 
always  sat  when  he  telephoned." 

"I  figured  out  that  it  must  have  been,  in  order  to 
get  that  bullet  just  as  he  did,  and  have  it  run  along 
and  make  that  groove  and  finally  land  in  the  safe. 
And  the  guy  that  did  the  shooting  must  have 
stood  back  there  in  the  middle  of  the  window.  He 
must  have  gum-shoed  in  while  Theobold  was 
telephoning;  and  he  couldn't  have  stood  four  feet 
away,  because  that  is  about  all  the  space  there  is 
between  the  chair  and  the  window." 

A  thought  flashed  into  Jack  Henley's  mind 
based  probably  on  the  recollection  of  things  he  had 
learned  in  the  course  of  his  boy-scout  training. 

"  But,  officer,"  he  said,  eagerly.  "  If  a  man  stood 
only  four  feet  behind  you  and  pointed  a  pistol  at 
arm's  length,  the  pistol  would  be  only  a  foot  or  so 
from  your  back.  Wouldn't  there  be  powder 
marks  on  the  coat  then  about  the  place  where  the 
bullet  went  in?" 

McFalcon  stared  for  a  moment,  then  turned  and 
arose  and  took  Jack  by  the  hand. 


122        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"My  boy,"  he  said,  "you  are  dead  right.  You 
have  the  "makings  of  a  detective  in  you.  Of  course 
there  would  be  powder  marks.  I  was  just  about 
to  call  attention  to  that  fact.  And  in  this  case 
there  were  no  powder  marks.  That's  a  puzzle, 
isn't  it?" 

"I  was  just  thinking  of  another  thing,"  said  Jack, 
his  face  now  flushed.  "I  was  wondering  why  Mrs. 
Theobold  didn't  hear  the  report  of  the  pistol? 
She  held  the  receiver  to  her  ear  for  twenty  seconds 
or  so  after  the  wire  seemed  to  be  cut  off  at  the  other 
end.  She  must  have  been  listening  at  the  very 
instant  when  Mr.  Theobold  was  killed.  Why 
didn't  she  hear  the  shot?" 

"You've  said  it,  young  man;  you've  said  it. 
Why  didn't  she?  That's  something  that  will  bear 
a  good  deal  of  thinking  about.  There  couldn't 
have  been  any  shot,  or  she  would  have  heard  it. 
It  begins  to  look  as  if  the  Captain  and  I  were  right 
when  we  suspicioned  that  airship.  It  couldn't 
have  been  the  hatpin,  for  the  old  fellow  was 
sitting  in  that  chair  at  the  telephone,  and  not 
leaning  out  of  the  window.  Or,  hold  on !  Could* 't 
he  have  dropped  the  'phone  and  stepped  to  the 
window?" 

"And  then  it  might  have  come  from  the  air- 
plane, after  all?"  urged  Miss  Collins. 


JACK  HENLEY'S  DISCOVERY       123 

McFalcon  nodded.  "Indirectly,  yes.  My  origi- 
nal theory  has  to  be  modified  along  the  line  of 
Captain  De  Lage's  suggestion  that  it  came  from 
the  airplane,  and  that  it  was  a  bomb  that  didn't 
explode  right.  Hard  luck  for  our  old  friend.  But 
the  girl  who  threw  the  bomb  will  get  hers,  and  she 
deserves  it." 

Miss  Collins  broke  in,  eagerly: 

"Anyway,  officer,  that  clears  Mr.  Crosby, 
doesn't  it?  Can't  we  get  word  to  the  Inspector, 
and  have  him  released  at  once?" 

The  detective's  jaw  dropped.  He  settled  into 
his  chair,  and  meditated  for  a  full  half-minute 
before  he  spoke.  Then  he  seemed  to  address  no 
one  in  particular  as  he  said: 

"Softly,  softly.  Maybe  this  thing  was  an 
accident,  and  maybe  it  wasn't  an  accident.  Where 
are  the  stolen  papers?  And  what  about  the 
finger-print?  As  I  said  before,  it  is  fairly  obvious 
that  the  flying  girl  didn't  cabbage  the  papers,  and 
didn't  make  the  finger-print.  We  aren't  quite  to 
the  bottom  of  this  matter  yet."  He  turned  to 
Miss  Collins,  as  he  added:  "And  until  we  get 
into  clearer  water,  your  friend  the  private  secre- 
tary will  have  to  stay  right  where  he  is.  But 
cheer  up,  young  lady.  Things  are  never  quite  as 
bad  as  they  seem." 


124        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Doubtless  this  was  meant  to  be  consoling.  But  if 
the  girl's  face  was  any  index  to  her  feelings,  things 
did  not  need  to  be  half  as  bad  as  they  seemed  to  be 
very  bad  indeed,  at  the  moment,  as  viewed  by 
Miss  Cynthia  Collins. 


CHAPTER  XII 

More  Finger-Prints 

THE  girl  left  the  room  with  her  handkerchief 
clutched    in    her    hand,    and    with    every 
appearance  of  being  about  to  require  its 
use  in  connection  with  her  eyes.     Her  nerves  were 
now  being  tested  rather  past  the  breaking  point^ 

The  sight  of  a  woman  in  distress  always  made  a 
strong  appeal  to  Captain  De  Lage's  sense  of 
chivalry.  He  appeared  to  find  the  sight  of  this 
particular  woman  in  distress  doubly  affecting. 
He  made  a  move  as  if  to  follow  Miss  Collins, 
then  seemed  to  think  better  of  it,  and  turned  to 
stare  out  of  the  window. 

"Monsieur  McFalcon,"  he  said, presently, facing 
the  detective,  "there  is  one  possibility  that  occurs 
to  me  that  we  have  overlooked.  Might  it  not  be 
that  the  assassin  did  stand  here  at  the  window,  as 
we  had  thought,  but  that  he  used  a  pistol  having 
an  attachment  to  consume  the  smoke  as  well  as 
deaden  the  sound?  It  is  true  that  no  such  device 
has  yet  been  made  known.  Our  governments 

125 


126       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

would  pay  a  high  price  for  such  a  device.  But  we 
have  a  silencer  that  can  be  attached  to  rifles,  and 
the  modern  powders  make  very  little  smoke.  If 
this  silencer  were  perfected  and  the  powder  made 
a  little  more  perfect,  it  might  be  possible  to  fire  a 
pistol  a  foot  away  from  a  man  without  burning  his 
coat,  and  so  silently  that  no  one  could  hear  it  even 
in  the  adjoining  office." 

"Then  you  think  the  fellow  was  in  here  and 
fired  from  over  there  by  the  window?  " 

"  I  do  not  state  it  as  a  conviction ;  I  only  suggest 
the  possibility.  The  modern  criminal  is  very 
scientific,  very  learned.  Perhaps  he  may  have 
gone  farther  in  this  direction  even  than  the 
military  experts." 

"  Well,  that's  all  right.  Suppose  he  has.  That 
gives  us  another  hypothesis,  as  Finnigan  would 
say,  but  it  doesn't  take  us  anywhere.  It  doesn't 
tell  us  anything  about  the  stolen  papers.  And 
until  we  find  the  fellow — or  the  fellows — that  took 
the  papers  and  made  the  print,  we  are  all  at  sea." 

The  detective's  hand  was  supporting  his  chin. 
He  appeared  to  cogitate  profoundly. 

"Now  between  ourselves,"  he  said,  presently, 
"  I  think  I  know  who  took  the  papers.  We've  got 
him  at  the  station  right  now.  And  we've  got 
this  secretary  fellow  who  sat  in  there  wide  awake 


MORE  FINGER-PRINTS          127 

and  couldn't  hear  anything.  All  I  want  is  the  man 
who  made  the  finger-prints.  It  doesn't  matter 
much  which  one  of  the  three  did  the  shooting; 
they're  all  accessories  before  the  fact,  and  equally 
guilty.  The  bunch'll  go  to  the  chair." 

"The  chair?  I  do  not  comprehend,"  said  the 
Captain. 

"The  electric  chair  at  Sing  Sing,  where  they 
execute  murderers." 

"Ah!     I  see.     Like  to  the  guillotine.     I  see." 

"Precisely.  But  until  I  get  on  the  track  of  the 
third  one,  I  can't  be  happy.  Any  one  could  get 
Crosby.  He  sat  right  there  and  bluffed  it;  still, 
it  was  me  who  really  trapped  him,  because  I  found 
the  finger-prints.  It  wasn't  very  hard  to  get 
Cortez,  either,  for  he  is  the  husband  of  the  little 
lady  that  was  Theobold's  last  visitor.  She  told 
me  about  it." 

He  arose  and  came  to  the  window. 

"Cortez's  office  is  right  over  there  in  that  Sixth 
Avenue  Building.  He  probably  looked  across  that 
morning  and  saw  the  little  wife  standing  here  at 
the  window  along  with  Theobold,  looking  out  for 
the  airship.  It  made  him  hot  under  the  collar. 
He  grabs  his  gun,  and  runs  along  31st  Street  and 
in  at  the  rear  door,  and  up  the  elevator;  and  in 
about  a  minute  and  a  half  he  is  in  here." 


128        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"And  the  lady?     She  was  still  here?" 

"No,  she  probably  saw  him  coming  along  the 
street,  and  she  made  a  getaway.  Her  friend 
went  with  her  to  the  office  door,  and  Crosby  said 
that  they  both  seemed  a  good  deal  stirred  up. 
Who  wouldn't  be,  when  a  greaser  was  coming  after 
him  with  a  six-shooter?  " 

"Ah,  I  guessed  it!"  cried  the  Captain,  exultantly. 
"  Cherchez  la  Jemme,  toujours.  And  this  weapon — 
this  what  you  call,  six-shooter? — it  had  on  it  the 
silencer  and  the  smoke  consumer?  Ah,  I  must  see 
this  gentleman,  and  buy  his  patent  for  the  army  of 
France.  It  will  be " 

"Jerusalem!"  groaned  the  detective.  "There 
we  are  again.  Always  running  into  snags.  That 
big  gun  that  Cortez  has  would  come  within  a  foot 
of  the  old  fellow's  back  when  he  held  it  out,  and 
blow  a  hole  in  him  you  could  put  your  fist  through. 
As  Finnigan  would  say,  we've  got  to  hunt  for  an- 
other hypothesis.  Damn  the  hypothesis,  anyhow. 
I'm  going  to  stick  to  facts.  By  the  way,  gentle- 
men, suppose  you  just  give  me  prints  of  your  fin- 
gers to  add  to  my  collection.  Here  is  an  ink  pad. 
Go  ahead." 

Doctor  Harris  stepped  forward  with  an  amused 
smile  to  comply.  But  the  Frenchman  drew  him- 
self up  with  indignation. 


MORE  FINGER-PRINTS          129 

"Finger-prints?  Zounds!  What  do  you  mean? 
Am  I  insult?  You  accuse  me  of  an  assassin?  If 
you  were  in  La  France,  I  would  challenge  you  to 
ze  duel.  Here  I  can  only " 

"Calm  yourself,  Captain;  calm  yourself.  I 
am  not  insinuating  anything,  or  making  any 
charges.  I  have  no  hypothesis,  as  Fmnigan  would 
say,  to  connect  you  with  this  crime.  But  now 
that  we  are  all  here  having  a  friendly  chat,  it 
will  do  no  harm  for  all  of  us  just  to  make 
some  finger-prints.  And  I  may  add  it  will  look 
just  a  bit  suspicious  if  anybody  refuses  to  do 
so." 

The  Captain  was  only  partly  mollified,  but  Doc- 
tor Harris  hastened  to  reassure  him. 

"He  means  nothing  by  it,  Captain.  Pray  don't 
take  offence.  There  is  no  possible  suggestion  of 
your  association  with  this  crime.  Mr.  McFalcon 
knows  that  you  were  with  me  and  with  a  represen- 
tative of  the  French  Government  when  this  crime 
was  committed — all  of  us  miles  away." 

"Just  so,  just  so,"  said  the  detective,  cheerily. 
"Come  on,  we'll  all  print  ourselves,  including  our 
friend  the  young  detective  here,"  indicating  Jack. 
"Nothing  to  it  but  a  little  amusement.  I'll  lead 
off." 

He  put  his  fingers  to  the  ink  and  pressed  them 


130       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

on  a  sheet  of  paper.  Then  he  made  a  second  print 
on  a  separate  sheet. 

"Let's  make  them  in  duplicate,  so  that  our 
young  friend  here  can  have  a  set.  He's  interested 
in  finger-prints,  I'll  wager.  I'll  give  him  a  few 
pointers  on  them,  and  when  he  studies  them  he'll 
be  one  stage  nearer  being  a  detective.  Eh,  sonny?  " 

The  detective  winked  at  Jack  as  he  spoke.  He 
was  recovering  his  good  humour. 

Doctor  Harris,  the  Captain,  and  Jack,  followed 
by  Miss  Collins,  who  had  returned  to  the  room, 
made  their  finger  impressions  on  duplicate  sheets 
of  paper  in  succession.  The  detective  gave  a 
seemingly  casual  glance  at  each  in  turn.  Then 
he  handed  one  sheet  of  paper  to  Captain  De  Lage 
and  the  other  to  Jack  Henley. 

"Keep  them  as  souvenirs,"  he  said,  laughing. 
"I  don't  want  them.  I  did  it  only  for  amusement, 
and  to  give  our  young  friend  here  an  object  lesson 
in  the  methods  of  his  future  trade.  Eh,  Jack?  " 

Again  he  winked  knowingly  at  the  boy,  leaving 
the  recipient  of  the  wink,  however,  entirely  mys- 
tified as  to  what  might  be  its  purport. 

But  if  Jack  failed  to  attach  any  particular 
significance  to  the  procedure,  he  was  at  least 
interested  in  the  souvenirs.  With  characteristic 
impulse  to  have  everything  labelled  and  scientifi- 


MORE  FINGER-PRINTS          131 

1 

cally  classified,  he  asked  each  member  of  the  party 
to  write  his  name  under  the  impression  of  his  or 
her  fingers.  Then  he  dated  the  document,  and 
put  it  in  his  pocket. 

His  interest  had  been  aroused,  and  he  meant  to 
look  up  the  subject  of  finger-prints  in  the  encyclo- 
paedia and  see  what  he  could  make  of  it. 

He  would  have  been  astounded,  indeed,  had  it 
been  suggested  to  him  tKat  the  paper  he  had 
placed  casually  in  his  pocket  would  one  day  be 
instrumental  in  saving  two  human  lives.  At  the 
moment,  his  only  thought  was  a  vague  wonder- 
ment as  to  just  what  McFalcon  had  meant  when 
he  handed  him  the  document  with  so  seemingly 
casual  a  glance  and  with  so  knowing  a  wink. 

Meantime,  the  Captain,  who  had  now  entirely 
regained  his  equanimity,  was  standing  again  at  the 
window,  gazing  across  at  the  building  opposite. 
Presently  he  turned  to  the  detective. 

"Monsieur  tells  me  that  the  man  with  the  big 
six-shooter  came  from  that  building?" 

"Yes.  At  any  rate,  that's  where  he  was.  I 
don't  know  whether  he  came  or  not,  but  I  do 
know  that  he  is  in  this  plot,  because  we  found 
some  goods  on  him  that  prove  it,  besides  the 
gun." 

"And  you  say  he  looked  over  here  and  saw 


132       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Madame,  his  wife,  standing  at  the  window  with 
Monsieur  Theobold?" 

"I  said  he  might  have  done  it.  Anyhow,  she 
was  here,  and  it's  a  safe  guess  that  she  was  look- 
ing out  of  the  window,  for  the  whole  town  was 
•watching  the  airplane.  And  he  was  probably 
looking,  too,  and  if  he  did,  it's  an  even  dice  that 
he  saw  her.  And  if  he  did  see  her,  it's  a  hundred 
to  one  shot  that  he  was  hot  under  the  collar. 
Then  it's  dollars  to  doughnuts  that  he  did  some- 
thing about  it.  But  whether  he " 

"Pardon,  Monsieur.  Will  you  permit  me  to 
suggest?  If  monsieur  saw  Madame  here  at  the 
window,  and  was  very  angry,  and  if  he  had  a  big 
six-shooter  in  his  hand,  why  should  he  not  shoot? 
Why  come  down  into  the  street  and  run  over  here 
and  lose  time?  Why  not  stand  at  the  window 
where  he  was,  and  shoot?" 

The  detective  arose  and  stood  beside  the  Cap- 
tain, looking  across  at  the  building. 

"Jerusalem!"  he  said,  presently.  "I  hadn't 
thought  of  that.  It's  a  mighty  long  shot,  but  with 
a  big  gun  like  the  one  he  had  it  might  be  done. 
Did  you  ever  see  any  one  shoot  as  far  as  that  with 
a  revolver,  Captain?" 

"Oh,  Monsieur,  it  is  nothing.  Often  in  La 
France  I  have  seen  a  man — why,  I  know 


MORE  FINGER-PRINTS          133 

very  well  a  man  in  the  aviation  corps,  there  at 
Verdun — 

"  Verdun  again,  eh?  That  is  where  you  dropped 
the  airplane  bombs,  wasn't  it?  What  about  your 
bomb  theory  if  we've  now  got  this  six-shooter 
theory?" 

"Ah,  Monsieur;  that  was  a  mere  suggestion. 
This  is  a  mere  suggestion.  We  find  a  missile 
which  may  be  either  a  piece  of  a  bomb  or  a  bullet 
of  a  revolver.  The  missile  has  gone  through  a  man 
and  stopped  in  a  safe.  We  know  not  where  it 
came  from.  I  make  a  suggestion,  based  on  my 
experience  in  the  aviation  corps  at  Verdun; 
another  suggestion  based  on  experience  in  the 
cavalry.  Which  is  right?  I  do  not  know.  That 
is  for  you  to  find  out,  Monsieur  McFalcon." 

He  was  speaking  with  enthusiasm  now.  The 
subject  appeared  to  appeal  to  him.  He  continued 
after  a  momentary  pause: 

"I  only  say  that  if  in  France  a  man  stood  at  a 
window  and  saw  his  wife  at  another  window  with  a 
man,  he  would  not  wait  to  walk  to  them.  He 
would  not  wait  at  all.  He  would  shoot,  Mon- 
sieur; he  would  shoot,  and  shoot  to  kill." 

"By  Jove,  I  believe  that's  just  what  Cortez  did. 
I  believe  you're  right,  Captain.  That  thing  never 
did  look  like  a  piece  of  a  bomb  to  me.  It  looked 


134        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

too  big  for  a  revolver  bullet,  and  so  that  threw  me 
off  the  track.  But  I  wasn't  thinking  of  a  cow- 
boy's six-shooter.  This  bullet" —  he  held  it  again 
in  his  hand — "this  bullet,  before  it  was  flattened, 
would  just  about  fit  in  that  gun.  I  think  we've  got 
the  thing  just  about  doped  out  right  now,  Captain. 
You  were  wrong  about  the  bird  lady.  She  dropped 
some  nasty  bombs,  but  she  didn't  drop  this  one. 
This  one  is  up  to  Cortez.  Hadn't  shot  his  gun  since 
he  came  to  New  York,  eh?  Made  a  pretty  good 
bluff  of  it,  too.  But  now  I'll  call  his  bluff.  The 
facts  are  all  against  him.  And  facts  win  the  game." 

He  turned  from  the  window  and  inspected  the 
groove  along  the  desk  end.  He  sighted  along  it 
carefully,  going  back  by  the  safe  to  get  the  line. 

"Comes  straight  in  line  with  Cortez's  window — 
straight  as  a  string,"  he  said,  exultantly.  "And  it 
has  just  about  the  drop  a  bullet  ought  to  have 
coming  that  far,  eh,  Captain?" 

"That,  of  course,  depends  upon  the  trajectory; 
and  for  a  revolver  I  should  say  it  would  be  just 
about  right.  A  rifle,  of  course,  would  carry 
straighter.  But  for  either  one  he  was  right  in  line 
from  the  window  over  there  where  you  say  the 
man  with  the  six-shooter  was.  But  why  would  he 
not  shoot  while  Monsieur  Theobold  still  stood  at 
the  window?" 


MORE  FINGER-PRINTS  135 

"It  probably  took  him  a  little  time  to  get  his  gun 
and* load  it.  I  reckon  he  told  the  truth  when- he 
said  he  hadn't  shot  it  before  since  he  came  to  New 
York.  By  the  time  he  had  it  loaded,  Theobold 
and  the  lady  had  flown  the  coop.  Then  Theobold 
came  back  and  sat  down  at  his  desk,  to  answer  the 
telephone.  And  then  Cortez  got  him." 

The  detective  chuckled,  as  if  it  all  seemed  a  very 
excellent  joke.  But  he  was  not  thinking  at  the 
moment  of  the  tragedy  itself.  He  was  chuckling 
because  there  had  first  come  before  his  mind's  eye 
a  picture  of  Finnigan's  face  when,  in  due  course, 
the  true  story  of  the  crime,  as  now  visualized, 
should  be  revealed  to  him. 

"Finnigan  will  have  to  admit  that  this  is  some 
hypothesis,"  he  said.  "And  I  miss  my  guess  if 
the  District  Attorney  doesn't  say  that  we  have 
enough  proof  right  now  to  send  Cortez  and  Crosby 
to  the  chair." 

Thereat  he  laughed  again,  as  if  there  was  some- 
thing amusing  in  the  conception  of  this  final 
denouement.  But  this,  in  all  probability,  was  not 
because  he  lacked  ordinary  human  sensibilities, 
but  only  because  he  took  great  pride  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  felt  the  joy  of  the  creative  artist  in 
having  solved  a  mystery  by  use  of  the  imagination. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Press  and  Dame  Rumour 

NOTHING  transpired  in  the  office  of  Theo- 
bold  &  Co.  that  day,  or  on  the  immediately 
succeeding  days,  to  throw  new  light  on 
the  mystery  that  attached  in  the  minds  of  most 
people  to  the  death  of  John  Theobold. 

The  newspapers,  of  course,  kept  up  their  com- 
ment on  the  subject,  supplying  hypotheses  and 
elucidations  of  then*  own  ad  libitum,  so  long  as 
the  public  was  supposed  to  take  interest  in  the 
case.  Moreover,  they  found  elements  of  alleged 
interest  to  stimulate  the  public  taste. 

It  was  rumoured,  for  example,  that  papers  found 
by  the  police  in  the  office  of  Emanuel  Cortez 
showed  that  the  Brazilian  was  really  a  spy  in  the 
employ  of  the  Mexican  Government,  and  that 
his  relations  with  Theobold  had  been  discovered 
to  be  such  as  to  raise  doubt  as  to  the  patriotic 
integrity  of  the  financier  himself.  The  latter,  it 
was  hinted,  had  long  been  suspected  by  his  enemies 
of  being  willing  to  barter  his  soul  for  money — even 

136 


THE  PRESS  AND  DAME  RUMOUR    137 

as  another  company  of  his  critics  had  accused 
him,  sub  rosa,  of  being  a  pawn  in  the  hands  of  any 
artful — and  beautiful — woman. 

In  the  present  case  it  was  suggested  that  both 
money  and  women  were  the  stakes  for  which 
Theobold  had  played  a  game  that  had  ultimately 
cost  him  his  life.  The  fact  that  a  beautiful 
Brazilian  woman  was  the  last  person  known  to 
have  been  in  his  office  while  the  financier  was  alive, 
and  that  the  husband  of  this  beauty  was  now  under 
indictment  for  murder,  lent  quickened  interest 
to  the  case  that  gave  it  splendid  value  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  newspaper  office. 

Sundry  of  the  much-exploited  female  reporters 
who  analyze  and  dissect  every  crime  that 
involves  a  man  and  woman  for  the  pages  of  the 
metropolitan  evening  papers  interviewed  Senora 
Cortez. 

They  found  her  gentle,  courteous,  and  almost 
child-like  in  her  simplicity,  grieving  for  her  hus- 
band, and  almost  painfully  solicitous  in  urging  his 
innocence;  tearfully  invoking  the  aid  of  the  press 
in  proving  that  his  arrest  was  due  to  some  terrible 
mistake  or  misunderstanding.  But  that,  of  course, 
did  not  keep  them  from  developing  elaborate  and 
intricate  webs  of  hypotheses  about  the  unfortunate 
lady,  nor  from  veiled  suggestions  that  there  might 


138        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

lurk  back  of  her  shyness  and  reserve  the  capacity 
to  burst  out  on  occasion  with  the  type  of  passion 
traditionally  held  to  be  characteristic  of  the  women 
of  her  race. 

"Hers  is  the  oriental,  the  tropical  type  of 
beauty,"  one  of  the  romancers  phrased  it.  "Eyes 
dark  and  inviting  as  limpid  pools  in  an  Amazonian 
forest;  lips  red  as  coral  from  the  Carribees;  teeth 
like  pearls  from  deep  equatorial  waters;  a  manner 
languid,  soft,  and  alluring  as  the  whisper  of  exotic 
breezes — yet  always  with  a  suggestion  of  the  calm 
that  precedes  the  sirocco." 

This,  and  more  in  kind,  of  demure  little  Celeste 
Cortez!  Being  of  Spanish  descent,  she  was  ex- 
pected to  keep  up  the  Andalusian  tradition,  little  as 
her  placid  demeanour  seemed  to  suggest  it. 

The  case  had  a  double  interest  in  the  fact  that 
there  was  a  second  man  under  indictment  whose 
association  with  the  crime  was  also  alleged  to  be 
inspired  by  jealous  hatred. 

Miss  Collins,  indeed,  declined  to  be  interviewed, 
except  once  or  twice  at  the  outset  when  she  told 
what  she  knew  of  the  case,  and  expressed  her  con- 
fidence in  the  innocence  of  Frank  Crosby.  But 
if  the  reporters  were  unable  to  find  any  consider- 
able amount  of  copy  in  comments  made  by  the 
.young  lady  herself,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent 


THE  PRESS  AND  DAME  RUMOUR    139 

them  from  evolving  copy  out  of  their  own  minds 
with  reference  to  the  probable  share  in  the  trag- 
edy of  the  very  beautiful  stenographer  of  a  rather 
coarse  and  notorious  employer  with  whom  she  had 
been  seen  lunching  on  two  or  three  occasions. 

"The  second  woman  in  the  case,'*  said  the 
romantic  journalist  already  quoted,  "is  the  very 
antithesis  of  the  Brazilian  beauty.  Hers  is  the 
fairness  of  the  temperate  zone — of  lily  rather  than 
of  orchid.  She  is  tall,  stately,  even  statuesque; 
cold,  not  to  say  haughty,  in  her  manner.  Her 
eyes  are  coldly  blue,  yet  none  the  less  can  they 
flash  fire  on  occasion;  and  the  colour  that  comes 
and  goes  in  her  fair-skinned  cheeks  tells  of  warm 
blood  that  might  pulse  responsively  to  suppressed 
emotion,  even  while  to  all  other  outward  appear- 
ances the  fair  young  woman  seemed  frigid  as  a 
statue  of  Diana." 

It  is  a  fair  presumption  that  the  eyes  of  Miss 
Collins  did  flash  fire  when  she  read  that  descrip- 
tion; and  that  the  emotions  within  her  did  not  lack 
outward  expression.  Not,  however,  expression 
of  which  the  reporter  who  wrote  the  description 
or  the  interested  public  had  cognizance. 

Yet  again  the  case  gained  public  interest  through 
the  rumour  that  a  distinguished  representative 
of  the  French  Army  shared  in  some  way  in  aiding 


140       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

the  famed  detective  McFalcon  to  run  the  alleged 
murderers  to  earth. 

One  paper  had  given  the  affair  an  international 
aspect  by  hinting  that  a  representative  of  the 
French  Government  was  believed  to  have  business 
relations  with  Theobold  that  were  not  without 
influence  in  connection  with  the  plot  that  resulted 
in  his  demise. 

Then,  of  course,  it  was  inevitable  that  the  news- 
paper which  had  first  made  an  alleged  "beat" 
in  ascribing  Theobold's  death  to  a  missile  flung 
from  the  airplane  should  hold  to  this  theory, 
and  exploit  it  with  such  show  of  plausibility  as  it 
could  command.  Miss  Sylvia  Lawson,  the  avia- 
trix,  was  indeed  no  longer  in  custody.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  she  had  spent  only  a  single  night  in 
durance.  But  the  rumour  that  she  had  in- 
advertently been  responsible  for  Theobold's  death 
would  not  altogether  down  so  long  as  the  news- 
paper referred  to  considered  the  report  of  news 
value. 

Meantime,  the  District  Attorney's  office,  when 
it  had  the  case  well  in  hand,  had  adopted  and 
elaborated,  apparently,  an  hypothesis  of  the 
murder  that  did  not  differ  greatly  from  the  one  to 
which  Mel  McFalcon  had  been  led  with  the  aid  of 
sundry  associates  with  whom  the  reader  is  familiar. 


THE  PRESS  AND  DAME  RUMOUR    141 

David  Webster,  of  the  District  Attorney's  staff, 
who  had  special  charge  of  the  case,  gave  out 
very  confident  assurances  to  the  reporters  that  the 
evidence  against  the  two  suspects  who  were  under 
indictment  was  absolutely  convincing,  and  that 
their  guilt  would  be  triumphantly  demonstrated 
when  the  case  came  to  trial. 

Just  why  a  prosecutor  whose  duty,  supposedly, 
is  to  aid  in  the  dispensation  of  justice  should  wish 
always  to  pose  as  a  partisan,  and  count  any  con- 
viction a  personal  triumph,  is  not  always  clear 
to  the  disinterested  outsider;  nor  why  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney's  office  should  inevitably  regard 
every  accused  person  as  guilty  until  proven  inno- 
cent, whereas,  theoretically,  the  law  is  supposed  to 
take  the  view  that  one  is  innocent  until  proven 
guilty. 

But,  after  all,  as  regards  these  matters,  the  Theo- 
bold  case  did  not  differ  from  any  other  murder 
case  that  involves  persons  of  some  measure  of 
importance,  or  elements  of  property-interest  or 
sex-interest,  which  are  supposed  to  constitute  the 
favourite  mental  pabulum  of  the  American  public. 

There  remained,  however,  enough  diversity  of 
opinion  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  accused  persons,  and 
enough  doubt  as  to  the  exact  nature  of  the  plot,  to 
continue  to  arouse  public  curiosity. 


142       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Moreover,  it  was  freely  admitted  that  a  third 
person  was  believed  to  have  been  involved,  and 
directly  involved,  in  the  murder,  whose  identity 
had  not  been  definitely  established,  and  who  still 
remained  at  liberty. 

And  then  there  was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the 
usual  amount  of  maudlin  feminine  sympathy, 
based  on  the  fact  that  one  of  the  accused  persons 
was  a  handsome  young  American  hitherto  of  ir- 
reproachable reputation,  and  the  other  a  dashing 
Brazilian,  rumoured  to  have  been  famed  in  his 
own  country  as  a  gay  Lothario  and  a  dead  shot. 
Also,  masculine  sympathy  of  equally  maudlin  type 
was  not  lacking  for  a  beautiful,  black-eyed  young 
Brazilian  senora  who,  if  the  District  Attorney 
had  his  way,  would  presently  be  a  widow;  and  a  tall, 
slender  American  blonde  whose  fiance,  if  the  law 
took  the  natural  course  mapped  out  for  it  by  its 
representatives,  was  not  likely  to  live  to  become 
her  husband. 

Couple  all  these  facts  with  the  further  fact  that 
the  attorneys  for  the  defence  gave  out  with  great 
seeming  assurance  the  customary  declaration  that 
they  would  present  evidence  in  due  course  to  show 
that  the  entire  case  against  their  clients  was  a 
figment  of  prejudiced  imagination  (further  hinting 
that  the  real  criminals  would  probably  be  brought 


THE  PRESS  AND  DAME  RUMOUR    143 

to  light  through  exposure  of  a  plot  of  international 
significance),  and  it  will  be  obvious  why  the  trial 
of  Emanuel  Cortez  and  Frank  Crosby  for  the  mur- 
der of  John  Theobold,  when  it  came  on  the  calendar 
along  in  November,  was  assured  front-page  space 
in  every  metropolitan  paper. 

The  gentlemen  with  "news"  sense  whose  busi- 
ness it  is  to  decide  what  aspects  of  current  happen- 
ings shall  be  purveyed  to  the  public  do  not  often 
get  on  a  wrong  track,  and  they  make  no  mistake 
in  giving  full  cry  when  they  come  on  a  trail  that 
seems  to  lead  into  alluring  mazes  of  no-whither. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
A  Chance  for  Crosby 

ONE  day  in  October,  not  long  before  the 
time  set  for  the  trial,  David  Webster 
came  up  from  the  District  Attorney's 
office  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  office  of  Theobold  &  Co. 
He  had  been  there  on  various  occasions  since  the 
morning  he  discovered  the  tell-tale  bullet  in  the 
safe,  but  this  time  he  had  a  very  particular  mission. 
His  manner  as  he  greeted  the  stenographer  was 
ingratiating,  as  always;  his  tone  cordial,  as  he  said : 

"I'd  like  to  have  a  little  chat  with  you  in  pri- 
vate, Miss  Collins." 

The  sight  of  him  made  the  girl  shudder,  for  it 
brought  vividly  into  her  mind  the  imminence  of 
the  trial,  but  she  strove  to  suppress  her  feelings  as 
she  rose  and  led  the  way  to  the  little  private  office, 
which,  since  the  death  of  Theobold,  had  been 
unoccupied. 

"Pardon  me  if  I  seem  to  intrude  on  a  personal 
matter,"  he  said,  "but  I  understand  that  you  and 
Mr.  Crosby  are  pretty  good  friends." 

144 


A  CHANCE  FOR  CROSBY          145 

"We  are  to  be  married  as  soon  as  he  is — re- 
leased." 

"I  had  understood  that  you  are  engaged.  Let 
me  tell  you  then,  in  all  confidence,  that  Mr.  Crosby 
will  never  be  released  unless  you  can  persuade  him 
to  take  a  different  course  from  that  which  he  has 
hitherto  adopted.  That  is  the  matter  I  have  come 
to  speak  to  you  about." 

"A  different  course?     I  do  not  understand." 

"I  will  be  more  explicit  in  a  moment.  But  first 
let  me  ask  you  a  question  or  two.  You  realize, 
doubtless,  the  gravity  of  the  charge  against 
Crosby.  He  is  accused  of  direct  complicity,  and  is 
therefore,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  precisely  as  cul- 
pable as  if  he  himself  had  fired  the  shot.  Theo- 
bold  was  killed  in  the  course  of  a  successful  attempt 
at  robbery  on  the  part  of  several  persons,  one  of 
them  being  Crosby.  No  matter  who  did  the  shoot- 
ing, that  constitutes  murder  in  the  first  degree. 
The  penalty  is  fixed  by  law;  jury  and  judge  have 
no  option  in  the  matter.  Do  I  make  myself  quite 
plain?" 

Miss  Collins's  face  was  ghastly,  but  she  held  her- 
self proudly  erect. 

"Surely  you  do  not  believe  Mr.  Crosby  guilty  of 
such  a  crime?" 

"I  admit  that  it  seems  almost  unbelievable, 


146       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

when  you  consider  his  past  reputation,  his  in- 
telligence, and  his  seeming  stability  of  character. 
But  the  facts  are  inescapable,  and  they  cry  out 
against  him." 

"It  is  all  a  hideous  mistake." 

"I  truly  wish  that  it  might  be  made  to  appear  so 
in  Crosby's  case.  But  you  must  be  aware  that  the 
evidence  is  conclusive,  and  that  there  is  not  a  shred 
of  evidence  to  put  forward  in  rebuttal.  Unless 
something  can  be  done  that  lies  entirely  beyond 
the  province  of  the  attorneys  for  the  defence,  the 
outcome  is  inevitable." 

"I  do  not  believe  it.  I  will  not  believe  it.  Mr. 
Theobold  was  not  shot  at  all,  or  if  he  was,  Mr. 
Crosby  knew  nothing  whatever  about  it.  He  has 
given  me  his  solemn  word  for  it,  and  I  know  that 
he  speaks  the  truth." 

"  Now,  Miss  Collins,  I  did  not  come  here  to  argue 
this.  It  is  an  unpleasant  duty  to  speak  about  it 
as  I  must  do.  But  you  are  a  woman  of  intelli- 
gence, and  in  your  heart  you  are  aware  that  the 
person  or  persons  who  came  through  that  office, 
rifled  the  safe,  and  left  the  finger-prints  could  not 
have  come  and  gone  unknown  to  Crosby,  and 
hence  must  have  acted  with  his  knowledge.  But 
I  do  not  wish  you  to  admit  this,  or  to  make  any 
concession  in  the  matter.  Only  let  me  ask  you  to 


A  CHANCE  FOR  CROSBY  147 

look  into  your  own  mind  and  inquire  what  your 
conclusions  would  be  if  you  were  juror  and  were 
called  upon  to  consider  evidence  of  that  character." 

He  paused  as  if  to  give  force  to  the  suggestion. 
Then  speaking  very  deliberately,  he  added: 

"And  this  brings  me  to  the  point  of  my  visit. 
I  hope  that  no  juror  will  be  called  upon  to  make 
such  a  decision.  In  other  words,  I  hope  that  Mr. 
Crosby  will  never  be  brought  to  trial." 

"Will  never  be  brought  to  trial?"  Miss  Collins 
gasped. 

"  Just  that.  It  rests  with  himself  to  say  whether 
he  shall  go  to  trial,  with  the  inevitable  result,  or 
whether  he  shall  go  out  a  free  man,  the  indictment 
against  him  quashed  with  the  consent  of  the  State. 
In  fact,  Miss  Collins,  I  tJhink  I  may  say  that  the 
decision  probably  rests  with  you." 

"  That  is  a  poor  subject  for  a  jest." 

"I  am  not  jesting.  I  speak  with  the  full 
authorization  of  the  District  Attorney.  The 
circumstances  are  these.  It  is  well  known  that 
Cortez  and  Crosby  had  at  least  one  and  probably 
two  associates  who  are  representatives  here  of 
foreign  governments,  namely  the  Mexican  Govern- 
ment on  one  hand  and  the  Austrian  Government 
on  the  other.  These  men  may  justly  be  regarded 
as  the  instigators  of  the  entire  plot.  It  was  they 


148        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

who  promised  the  money  that  furnished  the  lure. 
The  State  regards  them  as  'men  higher  up'  whom 
it  would  very  much  like  to  apprehend." 

"I  disbelieve  absolutely  all  that  you  are  say- 
ing." 

"Nevertheless,  it  is  true.  This  is  not  the  time 
nor  place  to  present  the  evidence.  But  I  may  call 
your  attention  to  a  single  fact  that  in  itself  should 
go  far  to  substantiate  what  I  am  saying.  This  is 
the  fact  that  the  bloody  finger-print  found  on  the 
envelope  in  Theobold's  pocket  is  a  mark  left  by  the 
hands  of  someone  who  does  not  belong  to  the 
ordinary  type  of  criminals.  The  finger  that  made 
it  was  quite  unaccustomed  to  labour.  It  was  a 
very  small  finger,  more  like  a  woman's  than  like  a 
man's,  and  its  tracing  is  sharp  and  clear,  revealing 
a  hand  clean  and  well  cared  for.  These  are  small 
matters,  but  infinitely  significant.  The  man  who 
made  this  telltale  imprint  was  obviously  searching 
the  pockets  for  some  written  document  that  might 
supplement  those  taken  from  the  safe;  for  he  paid 
no  attention  to  Theobold's  jewels,  including  the 
scarf  pin  which  as  you  know  is  of  great  value,  or 
to  his  watch,  or  to  the  large  sum  of  money  that  he 
carried  in  his  pocket.  Obviously,  then,  the  mo- 
tive was  not  robbery  of  an  ordinary  type." 

"But  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  Mr.  Crosby." 


A  CHANCE  FOR  CROSBY          149 

"It  has  everything  to  do  with  him.  Let  me 
come  to  the  point.  The  State  cannot  consistently 
make  any  concessions  to  Cortez,  because  it  was  he 
who  personally  fired  the  fatal  shot.  But  it  can 
consistently  make  concessions  to  Crosby,  and  is 
disposed  to  do  so,  if  he  will  aid  in  bringing  larger 
criminals  to  justice. 

"All  that  is  asked  of  him  is  that  he  shall  simply 
reveal  what  he  knows  of  the  plot,  and  the  names  of 
the  men  who  were  back  of  it. 

"We  do  not  need  his  aid  in  proving  the  share 
that  Cortez  had  in  the  crime.  That  is  established 
beyond  all  controversy.  But  we  admit  that  we 
are  unable  to  bring  the  crime  home  to  the  'men 
higher  up'  about  whom  I  have  spoken,  although 
each  one  of  them  i»  under  suspicion.  If  Crosby 
will  name  these  men,  and  aid  us  in  bringing  them 
to  justice,  it  lies  within  the  province  of  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  to  say  whether  the  case  against 
Crosby  himself  shall  be  quashed,  and  I  am  author- 
ized to  give  you  assurance,  on  my  word  of  honour 
as  a  gentleman,  that,  under  those  circumstances, 
this  will  be  done. 

"You  remember  how  it  was  with  Rose  and 
Weber  and  Vallon  in  the  Becker  case.  Well, 
Crosby  will  be  freed  in  the  same  way  if  he  will 
turn  State's  evidence." 


150        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

The  attorney  watched  the  girl's  face  as  he  spoke. 
But  she  neither  changed  expression  nor  made 
comment. 

• 

"Crosby  himself  has  been  tentatively  ap- 
proached in  the  matter,"  the  man  continued. 
"But  he  is  obdurate.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  he 
is  an  obstinate  man.  I  think  he  fully  realizes  his 
peril,  but  he  has  a  quixotic  sense  of  loyalty  to  his 
confederates,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  is 
absurd,  and  which,  if  he  clings  to  it,  will  lead  him 
to  the  chair.  Nothing  but  your  influence  can  cause 
him  to  change  his  determination — I  am  quite  sure 
of  that.  That  is  why  I  have  come  to  see  you." 

"If  Mr.  Crosby  knows  nothing,  he  can  tell 
nothing." 

*  'Let  us  for  the  sake  of  argument  forget  that 
aspect  of  the  matter.  We  are  speaking  here 
privately  and  confidentially.  I  ask  only  that  you 
go  to  Crosby,  there  in  the  Tombs,  and  tell  him,  in 
effect,  what  I  have  said.  Urge  him  to  accept 
freedom  and  life  and  happiness  with  you  in  place 
of  the  inevitable  alternative — he  well  knows  what 
that  is.  Point  out  to  him  that  with  the  money  he 
will  receive  for  his  share  of  the  Cortez  patents  you 
and  he  can  go  anywhere  in  the  world  and  live  in 
comfort.  He  can  take  a  new  name,  and  start  over 
in  life.  Is  that  not  better  than — Sing  Sing?" 


A  CHANCE  FOR  CROSBY  151 

The  girl  rose  and  drew  herself  to  her  full  height. 
The  colour  had  returned  to  her  cheeks.  Her  eyes 
were  flashing.  There  was  scorn  in  her  every  word 
as  she  answered: 

"Mr.  Webster,  it  is  unnecessary  to  prolong  this 
interview.  I  shall  convey  no  such  message  to  Mr. 
Crosby.  I  shall  not  insult  him  by  assuming  for  an 
instant  that  he  knows  anything  whatever  of  a  plot 
to  injure  Mr.  Theobold,  much  less  of  having  any 
complicity  in  the  carrying  out  of  such  a  plot. 
He  is  absolutely  innocent,  and  I  have  full  faith 
that  the  truth  will  prevail,  and  that  he  will 
be  given  back  to  me,  fully  exonerated,  though 
I  have  no  definite  idea  how  this  can  all  be 
done." 

Webster  tried  to  interrupt  her  with  a  gesture, 
but  she  disregarded  him.  Her  voice  was  keyed 
high,  but  its  tones  were  firm  and  confident. 

"  Let  me  tell  you  this,"  she  continued :  "  If  Mr. 
Crosby  were  guilty  of  the  crime  of  which  you 
accuse  him,  I  would  prefer  that  he  should  stand  the 
consequences,  rather  than  that  he  should  pur- 
chase safety  at  the  price  of  turning  traitor  to  his 
associates.  It  would  be  bad  enough  to  be  a 
murderer  without  being  a  poltroon.  But  Mr. 
Crosby  is  neither;  he  is  an  innocent  man,  cruelly 
misjudged.  But  before  long  something  will  hap- 


152        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

pen  to  prove  that  he  is  innocent,  and  he  will  be  set 
free." 

Webster  saw  that  further  argument  was  use- 
less. He  rose  and  extended  his  hand. 

"For  your  sake,  Miss  Collins,  and  for  his  sake 
also,  I  wish  it  might  be.  So  do  we  all  down  at  the 
office,  for  we  look  on  Crosby  as  a  splendid  fellow 
who  has  gone  wrong  through  an  unfortunate 
temper  and  a  great  temptation.  But  if  he  cannot 
be  made  to  realize  that  this  is  the  only  sane  way 
out  of  it,  the  law  must  take  its  course.  If  you 
should  change  your  mind  on  thinking  it  over, 
please  let  me  know." 

But  as  he  left,  he  was  muttering  to  himself: 

"Change  her  mind?  Not  in  a  lifetime.  She 
isn't  built  that  way.  Neither  is  Crosby.  They're 
a  stubborn  pair.  But  you  can't  help  liking  them 
for  it." 

He  shook  his  head  expressively  as  he  walked 
along  the  hall. 

"I  certainly  hate  to  see  a  nice  young  chap  like 
Crosby  go  to  the  chair  for  killing  that  old  skin- 
flint," he  soliloquized.  "He  ought  to  have  a 
medal  instead.  But  the  administration  of  that 
kind  of  justice  is  no  part  of  the  business  of  the  law. 
As  the  case  stands,  Crosby's  goose  is  cooked." 

He  cogitated  with  corrugated  brow,  as  was  his 


A  CHANCE  FOR  CROSBY  153 

habit.     And  as  he  stood  waiting  for  the  elevator, 
he  mused  aloud: 

"I  wonder  how  much  that  girl  knows?     I'm 
inclined    to    think — no,    I'm    not    either    . 
hanged  if  I  know.     But  I  do  know  that  Crosby 
will  go  to  the  chair  unless  she  makes  him  talk.    For 
her  sake,  and  his — and  ours — I  hope  she  does." 


CHAPTER  XV 
How  It  Looked  to  the  Defence1* 

distinguished  firm  of  Weaver  and 
Warren  had  been  chosen  to  defend  Cortez 
and  Crosby.  One  afternoon,  a  few  days 
after  the  Assistant  District  Attorney's  visit  to 
Miss  Collins,  the  senior  member  of  the  firm, 
Alexander  Weaver,  sat  talking  with  his  right- 
hand  lieutenant,  Robert  Warren. 

Weaver  was  rather  tall  and  of  full  figure,  with 
smoothly  shaven  face,  of  benevolent  type,  a  mouth 
that  could  be  expressive  or  non-committal  at  will, 
eyes  that  tended  to  twinkle,  and  a  forehead  that, 
originally  high,  now  extended  well  toward  the 
crown  of  the  head  where  the  hair  had  receded. 

He  had  a  voice  of  singular  persuasiveness.  His 
diction  was  copious  and  at  times  florid.  It  had 
been  said  of  him  that  if  he  could  find  a  single  little 
fact  to  use  as  a  fulcrum,  he  could  move  a  jury  in 
favour  of  the  guiltiest  client  as  certainly  as 
Archimedes  could  move  his  hypothetical  world. 

Warren  was  a  much  younger  man;  small,  alert, 

154 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  155 

with  a  weazel  type  of  face;  little  black  eyes  that 
sparkled,  and  a  shock  of  black  hair  that  tended  to 
curl.  His  every  look,  gesture,  and  intonation 
expressed  admiration  for  his  senior  partner,  mildly 
tempered  with  confidence  in  himself. 

It  was  the  function  of  the  junior  partner  to 
ferret  out  the  evidence,  and  supply  his  chief  with 
the  requisite  Archimedian  fulcrum. 

Weaver  leaned  back  in  his  chair  with  his  feet  on 
the  desk,  his  arms  crossed  in  characteristic  fashion, 
a  cigar  in  his  mouth,  and  an  expression  on  liis  face 
that  indicated  about  an  even  compromise  between 
boredom  and  interest,  as  he  said: 

"What  about  that  Theobold  case,  Bob?  Any- 
thing new?" 

"Not  much.  It  seems  that  Frenchman,  Cam- 
bon,  who  was  with  Doc  Harris  and  Captain  De 
Lage  so  much,  and  who  sailed  for  Europe  the  day 
after  the  murder,  knew  Lopez." 

"Lopez?  Let's  see.  He  is  the  fellow  that 
Cortez  claims  came  with  him  to  his  office  from  the 
Long  Island  Station?" 

"Same  chap.  Cambon  and  Lopez  knew  each 
other,  and  were  both  interested  in  the  matter  of 
the  pistol  attachment.  Cortez  sticks  to  his  story 
that  Lopez  came  with  him  to  the  office,  and  he 
claims  that  he  gave  Lopez  the  pistol  that  had  the 


156        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

silencer  on  it,  and  that  Lopez  started,  according 
to  arrangement,  for  Mexico  that  afternoon,  to  put 
through  the  deal  with  Carranza." 

"Hasn't  got  any  documents  to  prove  any  of 
this,  I  suppose." 

"No;  everything  is  done  very  secretly  in  those 
diplomatic  and  military  affairs.  But  Cortez's 
story  jibes — after  a  fashion  at  any  rate — with 
Crosby's  story  that  he  had  this  pistol  for  a  week  or 
two  before  that,  showing  it  to  a  representative  of 
the  Italian  Government,  and  that  he  gave  it  back 
to  Cortez  the  day  before — the  evening  of  July  7th." 

"That  would  make  a  nice  story  in  court, 
wouldn't  it?" 

"Well,  of  course  it  doesn't  have  to  be  told  in 
court.  Fortunately,  no  one  knows  anything  about 
it  but  Cortez  and  Crosby,  who  can't  be  made  to 
peach  on  themselves,  and  Lopez  and  Cambon  who 
have  taken  French  leave." 

"Where  does  Cambon  come  in  on  it,  anyhow." 

"He  had  been  dickering  with  Crosby,  probably 
acting  as  a  spy  for  Harris  and  De  Lage,  who  have 
a  rival  pistol  silencer  that  old  man  Theobold  was 
interested  in.  Cortez  claims  that  Harris  sneaked 
his  idea  in  some  way,  and  he  thinks  that  Theobold 
was  responsible,  for  Theobold  was  holding  Cortez's 
patents  and  specifications  as  collateral  on  a  loan." 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  157 

"Has  the  State  got  hold  of  this?" 

"I  think  they  have.  It  has  leaked  from  the 
District  Attorney's  office  that  the  papers  they 
found  in  Cortez's  desk  were  mighty  important. 
I  can't  find  out  just  what  they  are.  Cortez  claims 
they  were  these  same  pistol  patents  and  specifica- 
tion papers,  but  his  story  doesn't  sound  good, 
because  he  admits  that  Theobold  had  these  papers 
at  the  time  of  the  murder,  and  he  says  that  they 
came  to  him  by  mail  just  as  the  State  claims  they 
did;  and  yet  he  swears  he  doesn't  know  who  sent 
them  to  him." 

"Can't  that  Brazilian  ever  tell  the  truth  once?" 

"It  doesn't  look  like  it.  And  yet,  do  you  know, 
while  he  is  talking  to  me,  I  honestly  almost  be- 
lieve him.  He  seems  in  earnest.  He  swears  by 
all  the  saints  that  he  is  telling  me  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  so  help 
him " 

"Yes,  they  all  do  that.  In  twenty-seven  years 
at  the  bar,  I  never  saw  one  that  didn't.  But 
there  are  a  few  that  know  enough  to  trust  their  own 
lawyers.  This  fellow  seems  to  lack  even  that 
elemental  intelligence." 

"Crosby  is  just  as  bad,"  Warren  put  in.  "You 
can't  get  under  his  skin  at  all.  He  either  sits  there 
sullen  and  moody  like  a  stone  image,  or  else  jumps 


158       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

up  and  rages  like  a  lunatic.  You  simply  can't 
get  him  to  admit  that  he  saw  or  heard  a  thing. 
And  he  looks  right  at  you  and  swears  to  it  with 
such  confounded  assurance  that  sometimes  I  al- 
most half  believe  him." 

The  senior  partner  took  his  cigar  from  his  mouth, 
blew  a  ring  of  smoke,  and  turned  toward  his 
junior  with  a  quizzical  but  indulgent  smile. 

"The  original  and  incurable  optimist,"  he 
chuckled.  "Wait  till  you  have  had  a  dozen  more 
years  of  experience  listening  to  their  protestations, 
and  you'll  know  that  the  only  time  when  the 
unfortunate  prisoner  at  the  bar  ever  tells  the  truth 
is  when  he  admits  that  he  is  guilty.  And  even 
then,  if  it's  a  murder  case,  the  law  doesn't  let  you 
take  his  word  for  it,  but  goes  ahead  and  proves 
that  he  is  guilty  just  the  same.  But,  Bob,  why 
can't  you  dig  around  and  throw  up  just  a  little 
mole  hill  of  evidence  in  favour  of  our  worthy 
clients,  since  you  have  such  faith  in  them?" 

"Hold  on!  You're  putting  a  wrong  construc- 
tion on  my  words.  I  didn't  say  I  believed  them; 
I  said  I  almost  half  believed  them." 

"Well,  how  can  you  almost  half,  or  any  other 
fraction,  believe  a  story  like  that?  Of  course  I'm 
going  to  have  the  aphasia  experts  try  to  get  the 
jury  to  believe  it;  but  you  are  credited  with  being 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  159 

sane,  and  I  selected  you  for  a  partner,  not  the  way 
we  select  a  juryman,  but  because  you're  supposed 
to  be  intelligent.  If  Crosby  would  just  admit  the 
truth,  and  tell  us  who  the  fellow  was,  we  might  be 
able  to  do  something  for  him." 

"But,  Aleck,  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  that 
fellow's  face  when  he  looked  me  square  in  the  eye 
to-day,  and  told  me,  on  his  honour,  on  his  life,  that 
no  one  came  in  or  went  out  of  that  office  after 
Senora  Cortez  left  that  morning  and  the  boss  went 
back,  until  Miss  Collins  came  in  and  found  him 
dead." 

"Oh,  he's  looked  me  in  the  eye  and  told  me  the 
same  thing  forty  times.  I  think  he  begins  to 
believe  it  himself.  But  did  he  happen  to  tell  you 
how  he  thinks  the  bloody  finger-prints  got  on  the 
letter  in  Theobold's  pocket?  The  State  claims 
it's  as  pretty  a  set  of  prints  as  they  ever  saw.  Of 
course  they  don't  fit  Crosby,  but  who'd  expect 
them  to?  He  wasn't  for  rifling  the  old  man's 
pocket;  he  was  for  getting  even  on  the  score  of  his 
girl,  and  teaching  Theobold  to  mind  his  own  affairs. 
The  prints  don't  fit  Cortez,  either,  they  say.  But 
he  didn't  want  anything  Theobold  had  in  his 
pockets.  He  wanted  the  papers  in  the  safe,  and 
to  make  sure  that  Theobold  was  to  keep  off  his 
particular  petticoat  preserve.  It  was  the  third 


160       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

fellow  who  was  in  for  the  loot,  and  I  reckon  if  you 
could  find  Lopez,  you  wouldn't  have  much  trouble 
matching  those  finger-prints.  But  what  does 
Crosby  have  to  say  about  the  prints,  anyway?" 

"He  says  it  might  be  a  'frame-up'  on  the  part  of 
the  police." 

"A  brilliant  suggestion!  How  in  thunder  could 
the  police  frame  up  a  thing  like  that  with  a  whole 
troupe  of  people  about?  And  what  would  such  a 
frame-up  be  for?  Who  is  framed?  McFalcon  is 
still  running  about  like  a  fox  hound  off  the  scent 
finger-printing  everybody  that  comes  within  two 
blocks  of  the  Schuyler  Building.  But  he  doesn't 
claim  to  have  found  any  one  yet  that  the  blood- 
prints  fit.  What  kind  of  a  frame-up  would  you 
call  it  when  no  one  is  framed?  If  the  prints  fitted 
Crosby  or  Cortez,  the  thing  might  have  a  dif- 
ferent look.  But  McFalcon  isn't  that  sort  of  a 
chap,  anyway,  as  you  know." 

"No,  I'll  admit  that  McFalcon  is  as  straight  as  a 
string.  He  isn't  the  most  intelligent  sleuth  in  the 
world — though  he  thinks  he  is — but  he  is  honest; 
and  he  sure  is  plumb  daffy  over  finding  the  fellow 
that  left  the  trail  in  old  Theobold's  pocket.  Why 
not  put  him  on  the  track  of  Lopez?" 

"That  would  help  out  a  lot,  wouldn't  it?  Make 
a  fine  story.  Lopez,  the  friend  of  Cortez  and  well 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  161 

known  to  Crosby;  admitted  to  be  with  Cortez 
just  about  the  time  of  the  murder;  found  with  the 
special  brand  of  gun  that  Cortez  invented  and 
Crosby  had  in  his  possession  for  a  week  before  the 
murder,  according  to  his  own  account,  and  that 
Cortez  admits  he  had  in  his  pocket — without 
having  any  license  to  carry  it — on  the  morning  of 
the  murder.  To  complete  the  chain,  the  finger- 
prints of  Lopez  match  finger-prints  in  dead  man's 
pocket.  Nice,  sweet  little  chain  of  evidence  to 
drag  our  clients  out  of  jail  with,  eh?  I  don't 
think." 

"  Well,  just  what  do  you  think,  Aleck?  Between 
ourselves  and  the  four  walls,  and  hoping  that  there 
are  no  dictagraphs  present." 

"I'll  tell  you  what  I  think.  I  have  it  doped  out 
like  this,  and  I  don't  believe  I  am  far  wrong.  In 
the  first  place,  both  Cortez  and  Crosby  were  sore 
at  Theobold  for  being  sweet  on  their  particular 
girls.  That  made  them  ready  to  do  him,  on 
general  principles.  Then  Cortez  thought  that  the 
old  man  had  euchred  him  out  of  his  patent,  which 
would  mean  a  lot  of  money  now  that  he  had  got 
in  touch  with  Carranza.  Lopez  is  Carranza's 
agent,  and  of  course  stands  to  get  a  divvy  at  both 
ends  of  the  deal.  But  he  wants  the  patent  papers 
to  make  everything  look  legal,  and  prevent  Theo- 


162       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

bold  from  selling  the  pistol  attachment  to  some 
faction  of  Carranza's  enemies.  In  the  meantime, 
Crosby  has  a  dicker  on  with  that  Frenchman — 
what  is  his  name?  Yes,  Cambon.  Whether  or 
not  he  was  in  on  the  deal,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say 
positively.  But  I  think  it's  an  even  chance  that  he 
was  standing  out  by  the  door  to  give  the  alarm  if 
any  one  came,  or  to  keep  out  intruders.  Anyway, 
we  have  Crosby,  Cortez,  and  Lopez  strictly  on  the 
job,  and  they  account  for  the  known  facts." 

The  bored  expression  had  left  the  lawyer's 
face.  He  was  thoroughly  interested,  and  was 
outlining  the  case  against  his  clients  in  a  manner 
that  would  have  gladdened  the  heart  of  the  District 
Attorney  could  that  functionary  have  heard  the 
monologue. 

"Take  that  matter  of  missing  papers,  for  in- 
stance. Who  else  wanted  them  except  that 
bunch?  Who  else  knew  they  were  there?  Rumour 
from  the  District  Attorney's  office  has  it  that  the 
deal  which  was  on  between  these  fellows  and 
Carranza  was  good  for  a  couple  of  million  dollars 
in  American  money.  Crosby,  of  course,  was  right 
in  on  the  deal." 

"But  couldn't  he  get  the  papers  without  killing 
the  old  man?" 

"Surely.     But  what  good  were  the  papers  while 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  163 

the  old  man  was  alive  to  make  a  holler?  And, 
by  the  way,  those  papers  tell  just  as  strong  a  story 
against  Crosby  as  the  finger-prints  do.  Cortez  ad- 
mits that  part  of  the  papers  were  'sent'  to  him. 
The  rest  of  the  papers  are  gone  altogether — Miss 
Collins  tells  us  that.  And  Cortez  and  Crosby 
claim  they  knew  nothing  about  them.  Perhaps 
they  don't.  Lopez  may  have  them.  Or  perhaps 
they  were  Cambon's  share  of  the  loot.  Cambon 
was  in  thick  with  De  Lage  in  the  deal  to  buy  Doc- 
tor Harris's  invention — some  sort  of  fancy  range- 
finder." 

"Do  the  missing  papers  have  to  do  with  those 
patents?" 

"I  fancy  so;  but  I  don't  care  to  go  very  deep  into 
that  matter,  because  when  we  get  on  the  trail  of 
Cambon  we're  getting  on  the  trail  of  Lopez,  his 
friend,  with  whom  you  say  he  was  that  very 
morning ;  and  when  we  get  on  the  trail  of  Lopez  we 
have  a  hot  scent  that  leads  straight  to  Cortez  and 
Crosby.  But  for  that  matter,  Cambon  and 
Crosby,  himself,  were  thick  as  Siamese  twins,  and  I 
reckon  that  Crosby  must  have  stood  for  some  of 
the  trimmings  in  the  French  field,  too.  I  reckon 
he  would  have  use  for  all  the  money  he  could  get 
since  he  was  planning  to  marry  an  ambitious  girl 
like  Miss  Collins." 


164        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"What  do  you  make  of  her,  anyway?  You 
don't  think  she  was  in  on  the  deal,  do  you?" 

"Not  for  a  minute.  Too  clever!  A  scheme 
like  this  could  never  go  through  without  being 
found  out,  and  she's  clever  enough  to  know  it. 
But  she  isn't  that  kind,  anyway.  I  don't  think 
there  were  any  women  on  the  inside  of  this  at  all. 
It  wasn't  a  woman's  crime.  It  was  essentially 
a  money  crime — with  the  element  of  jealousy  just 
to  give  it  seasoning.  Women  don't  kill  for 
money!  They  get  it  in  easier  ways.  It's  only 
members  of  our  unfortunate  sex  that  have  to  work 
or  steal  in  order  to  get  money." 

"But  how  about  Senora  Cortez?" 

"Nice  a  little  woman  as  ever  lived.  Good  to 
look  at,  but  you  can't  blame  her  for  that.  Got  a 
fetching  way  with  her,  but  you  can't  blame  her 
for  that,  either — it  goes  with  the  complexion  of  the 
climate  where  she  grew  up.  But  she  is  strong  for 
Cortez  every  minute.  You  can  see  that  with  half 
an  eye.  Theobold  wanted  her,  of  course.  He 
wanted  every  good-looking  woman  he  laid  his  eyes 
on.  No  doubt  he  was  willing  to  pay  pretty  high 
to  get  her.  She  admits  that  he  made  a  bid 
that  last  morning  when  she  went  to  see  him  to 
intercede  for  Cortez.  She  said  he  claimed  he 
had  made  every  concession  to  Cortez  she  had 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  165 

asked  him  to  and  had  done  it  all  for  her  sake, 
of  course. 

"Banal  stuff,  but  it  sometimes  works." 

"It  didn't  work  in  this  case,  apparently.  He 
swore  he  had  sent  some  things  over  to  Cortez  by  a 
messenger;  but  Cortez  says  the  messenger  never 
arrived,  and  I  guess  he  didn't,  for  I  don't  think  old 
Theobold  was  likely  to  anticipate  on  any  pay- 
ments; leastwise  not  before  the  bargain  was  com- 
pleted and  the  consent  gained  of  the  party  of  the 
first  part — who  in  this  case  was  Senora  Cortez  and 
not  Cortez  himself. 

"Anyway,  Theobold  made  the  bluff  that  morn- 
ing, and  was  evidently  put  out  when  the  Senora 
wouldn't  fall  for  it.  He  was  peeved,  the  Senora 
says,  and  Crosby  says  he  looked  peeved  when  he 
came  through  the  office  with  her,  though  he'd  been 
feeling  mighty  good  just  a  little  before.  All  of 
which  speaks  well  for  the  Senora." 

"Yep;  but  it's  darned  unfortunate  that  she  went 
there  at  all  that  morning.  The  State  claims  that 
Cortez  probably  saw  her  at  the  window  with 
Theobold,  looking  out  at  the  airplane,  and  of 
course  it's  more  than  likely  that  he  did.  And  it 
will  be  hard  to  make  a  jury  believe  that  the  sight 
calmed  Cortez's  feelings  any,  and  made  him  any 
friendlier  toward  Theobold.  But  say!  Do  you 


166        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

believe  that  he  did  plunk  him  right  then  and  there 
from  the  window?" 

"Nope.     I  don't  believe  he  plunked  him  at  all." 

"You  don't!     How's  that?" 

"Like  this:  I  don't  doubt  he  was  mad  enough 
to,  and  I  think  he  probably  could  have  done  it 
even  at  that  distance  for  he  admits  he  used  to  be  a 
crack  shot.  But  he  wasn't  mad  enough  not  to 
know  it  was  a  pretty  dangerous  thing  to  shoot 
from  a  window,  with  all  those  people  around. 
And  anyway,  it  isn't  in  the  nature  of  his  clan  to 
kill  from  a  distance  when  they  can  get  near  with  a 
knife.  Of  course,  if  he  had  the  pistol  with  the 
silencer,  it  might  have  been  different,  but  he  didn't 
have  it  at  that  time." 

"How  do  you  know  he  didn't?" 

"Well,  partly  because  he  says  he  did.  But 
mostly  because  Crosby  admits  that  he  had  it  up 
to  the  day  before.  That  was  mighty  close  to  the 
event,  wasn't  it?  A  blame  sight  too  close  if  the 
State  ever  found  it  out.  If  I  had  been  in  Crosby's 
place,  I  would  claim  never  to  have  seen  the  pistol 
silencer  at  all.  Not  that  it  did  any  harm  to  tell  us, 
although  hanged  if  I  know  why  he  should  tell  us 
half  and  refuse  to  tell  us  things  that  might  be 
useful  for  us  to  know.  However,  the  point  is  that 
he  admits  having  the  silent-shooting  smoke-con- 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  167 

suming  pistol  right  up  to  the  day  before  the  mur- 
der. Then  he  turned  it  over  to  Cortez  to  give  to 
Lopez,  so  he  says.  Well,  in  point  of  fact,  Lopez 
did  get  it,  according  to  my  dope,  but  not  until 
the  day  of  the  murder  and  about  five  minutes 
after  the  shooting.  That's  just  an  illustration 
of  the  kind  of  lie  that  even  a  smart  chap  like 
Crosby  will  tell.  It  isn't  one  man  in  a  million  that 
can  make  up  a  lie  out  of  whole  cloth.  The  best 
the  average  imagination  will  do  is  to  pick  out  a  few 
strands  from  a  fabric  of  truth,  and  misplace  them. 
It  isn't  because  they  are  ashamed  to  lie;  it  is  simply 
because  they  haven't  imagination  enough  to  con- 
struct a  lie.  They  just  bend  the  truth  a  little, 
enough  to  answer  their  purpose." 

"I  know.  But  what's  the  application?" 
"Simply  this :  Crosby  had  the  pistol,  and  thinks 
he  had  better  admit  having  it — for  fear  that  it 
might  be  proved  on  him — for  some  days  before  the 
murder.  But  he  feels  that  it  will  be  incriminating 
to  admit  that  he  had  it  on  the  day  of  the  murder. 
So  he  plucks  a  day  out  of  the  calender  and  *  re- 
members'  that  he  gave  it  back  on  the  seventh. 
Well,  he  didn't  see  Lopez  on  the  seventh,  because 
that  young  man  didn't  come  to  town  on  that  day; 
so  Crosby  has  to  '  remember'  that  he  gave  the  gun 
to  Cortez,  who  wanted  it  for  Lopez.  That's  a 


168        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

little  awkward  for  Cortez,  of  course,  since  it  puts 
the  gun  in  his  hands  on  the  morning  of  the  eighth; 
but  he  has  to  stand  for  it,  and  anyway  it  seems 
pretty  safe,  for  he  wasn't  supposed  to  be  in  the 
Schuyler  Building  at  all  that  morning,  whereas 
Crosby  was  right  there.  But  Cortez  'remembers' 
passing  the  gun  right  on  to  Lopez  in  a  hurry.  And 
of  course  Lopez  did  get  it  ultimately  and  get  away 
with  it." 

The  constructionist  paused  to  let  the  details 
sink  home.  But  his  listener  only  looked  question 
marks  and  he  continued: 

"Well,  there  you  have  the  whole  big  fabric  of 
truth,  with  only  a  little  rent  in  it.  Crosby  did 
have  the  gun,  and  Lopez  did  get  it.  It's  just 
possible  even  that  Cortez  may  have  taken  it  from 
Crosby's  hands  and  handed  it  to  Lopez.  In  fact, 
I  think  he  probably  did.  But  that  happened,  not 
on  the  seventh,  but  on  the  morning  of  the  eighth, 
and  right  there  in  Theobold's  office." 

"In  Theobold's  office!" 

"Precisely  so.  Which  brings  me  to  the  point 
of  my  story.  As  I  have  it  doped  out,  what  hap- 
pened was  simply  this — incidentally,  I  tried  to  tell 
you  some  time  ago,  and  you  put  me  off  the  track 
with  your  fool  questions  and  interruptions.  Now, 
as  I  have  it  doped  out,  Crosby  was  so  fussed  up 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  169 

over  Theobold's  asking  Miss  Collins  to  go  to  lunch 
with  him  that  morning,  and  her  saying  she  would — 
you  remember  they  quarrelled  about  it  like  cat 
and  dog — that  he  got  madder  and  madder  about  it 
as  he  sat  there  all  alone  in  the  office,  while  Senora 
Cortez  was  in  the  private  office." 

"Yes;  there  isn't  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  about 
that.  Crosby  admits  it." 

"Well,  he  overheard  enough  of  what  Theobold 
was  saying  to  the  lady  as  they  came  to  the  door 
to  remind  him  again  of  the  kind  of  proposition  he 
was  up  against.  Theobold  was  talking  about 
money,  you  remember,  Senora  Cortez  tells  us,  and 
was  boasting  that  he  could  buy  anything  he 
wanted,  and  was  ready  to  pay  for  anything  that 
looked  good  to  him.  That  was  the  last  straw  for 
Crosby.  It  was  galling,  for  him  to  think  that  he 
was  not  in  position  to  meet  competition  of  that 
kind  in  dolling  up  Miss  Collins — he  admits  that, 
you  know.  And  now — as  I  dope  it  out — it  oc- 
curred to  him  that  if  Theobold  was  out  of  the  way, 
and  he  had  those  papers  that  Cortez  was  beefing 
about,  he  would  be  able  to  play  the  money  game, 
too." 

"But  Crosby  is  too  intelligent  to  think  he  could 
get  away  with  a  thing  like  that." 

"He  was  too  mad  to  stop  to  figure  it  out.     He 


170       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

had  just  gone  plumb  off  his  head,  as  a  quick- 
tempered, black-eyed  chap  like  that  will.  And  it 
happened  that  Theobold  made  a  remark  just  as 
he  was  passing  the  desk  that  simply  applied  the 
detonating  spark  to  the  powder  mine.  Senora 
Cortez  tells  us,  you  remember,  that  Theobold 
tried  to  play  up  Miss  Collins  against  her,  and  as 
they  passed  the  stenographer's  desk — she  wasn't 
there,  you  remember — he  nodded  his  head  that 
way  and  said  'well,  if  you  won't  play  ball,  don't 
forget  that  there  are  others."' 

"I  remember.  The  Senora  gives  the  quaintest 
little  toss  to  her  head  when  she  tells  about  it." 

"  Forget  that  detail,  for  your  own  peace  of  mind. 
But  unless  I  miss  my  guess,  it  was  that  final  re- 
mark that  caused  Theobold 's  death.  For — if  I 
have  it  doped  right — it  took  Crosby  just  about  as 
long  to  dig  the  silent-shooting  gun  out  of  the 
bottom  drawer  of  his  desk  as  it  took  Theobold  to 
get  back  to  his  office.  And  about  thirty  seconds 
later  Crosby  was  in  there  after  him,  and  around 
the  corner  of  the  desk,  and  the  silent-shooting 
smoke-consumer  had  done  its  work." 

"Do  you  really  think  it  was  done  like  that?" 

"Why  not?  That's  about  the  only  reasonable 
way  to  dope  it,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  and  fit  in  nicely 
with  all  the  other  facts." 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  171 

"But  where  does  Cortez  come  in?" 

"Why,  it  was  just  a  plain  old-fashioned  coinci- 
dence— the  kind  that  happens  oftener  in  real  life 
than  in  fiction — that  Cortez  should  have  seen  his 
wife  over  there  at  the  window,  and  that  he  should 
have  been  legging  it  along  31st  Street  headed  for 
the  Schuyler  Building,  with  Lopez  at  his  heels — 
and  perhaps  Cambon  also — just  at  the  very  minute 
when  Crosby  was  getting  ready  to  go  into  action. 
Cortez  probably  had  a  knife  hi  his  pocket,  but 
that  doesn't  figure  in  the  story;  for  when  he  and 
Lopez  got  into  the  office — Lopez  all  the  time  try- 
ing to  calm  him  and  hold  him  back — what  do  they 
do  but  run  plump  into  Crosby,  with  the  gun  in 
his  hands.  And  the  man  that  Cortez  was  after 
had  gone  where  a  knife  would  do  him  neither  good 
nor  harm." 

"Heaven  help  us!  A  fancy  mixup.  But  what 
about  the  stolen  papers?" 

"Well,  one  or  another  of  the  trio  had  his  wits 
about  him;  and  for  that  matter  all  of  them  may 
have  thought  of  the  papers,  for  they  had  planned 
nothing  but  how  to  get  them  for  a  month  or  so. 
Anyway,  they  grabbed  what  they  wanted  out  of 
the  safe,  and  Lopez — or  it  may  have  been  Cam- 
bon— went  through  Theobold's  pockets  for  good 
measure — leaving  his  mark  by  accident  as  he  did 


172        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

so.  Then  the  two  of  them — or  three  of  them — 
made  a  getaway  before  any  one  came  back  to  the 
office;  and  Crosby,  just  plumb  dazed  and  too 
scared  even  to  try  to  figure  out  an  alibi,  went 
over  like  an  imbecile  and  sat  down  at  his  desk, 
where  Miss  Collins  found  him  half  a  minute 
later." 

"But  wouldn't  Crosby  have  beat  it  along  with 
the  others?" 

"Perhaps  he  might  if  he'd  had  a  minute  or  two 
more  to  think  about  it.  It  may  be  that  he  was 
stopping  at  his  desk  just  to  get  hold  of  some 
papers  that  he  didn't  want  to  leave.  Or  possibly 
he  figured  that  if  he'd  sit  tight  they  couldn't  prove 
anything  on  him  so  long  as  the  gun  had  gone. 

"Oh,  it  may  be — as  I  believe — that  he  didn't 
think  at  all,  but  was  just  stunned,  mentally 
collapsed,  from  the  reaction,  and  from  the  horror 
of  it  all. 

"A  nice,  sensitive  chap  like  Crosby,  well  edu- 
cated and  with  fine  instincts,  may  get  so  mad  that 
he  wants  to  kill  a  man,  and  may  do  it  if  he  acts 
before  he  has  time  to  think,  but  he  is  bound  to 
regret  it  the  minute  it  is  done.  A  man  like  that 
couldn't  plot  a  cold-blooded  murder." 

"I  can't  make  myself  believe  he  could  do  a 
murder  at  all.  Why,  Aleck,  Crosby  isn't  that 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  173 

kind  of  a  man.  He  is  one  of  the  nicest  chaps  that 
ever  was 

"There  you  go  again,  Bob.  Nice  chap?  Of 
course  he  is.  But  wasn't  Carlyle  Harris  who 
killed  his  girl- wife  a  nice  chap?  Wasn't  that 
Boston  preacher  who  killed  his  sweetheart  a  nice 
chap?  Wasn't  Waite,  who  killed  his  wife's  father 
and  mother,  a  nice  chap?  Won't  you  ever  learn 
that  you  can  never  tell  how  far  a  frog  can  jump 
by  looking  at  it?  A  murderer  doesn't  carry  his 
sign-manual  on  his  face.  In  fact,  there  isn't  any 
such  a  thing  as  a  murderer  sui  generis.  What  we 
call  a  murderer  is  just  a  man  who  happens  to  have 
the  misfortune  to  have  the  game  run  against  him 
so  that  finally  the  temptation  to  kill  is  too  strong 
for  his  powers  of  resistance.  Put  yourself  in 
Crosby's  place!  Imagine  yourself  in  love  with  a 
beautiful  girl  like  Miss  Collins.  Imagine  you  see 
her  being  led  out  of  your  reach  by  a  notorious  old 
man  who  intimates  in  your  presence — even  though 
it's  a  lie — that  she  has  her  price  and  he's  going  to 
pay  that  price.  Would  you  feel  like  murder  or 
not?  And  if  you  happened  to  have  a  silent- 
shooter  pistol  lying  there  at  your  elbow,  would  you 
be  likely  to  pick  it  up  and  use  it,  or  wouldn't  you?  " 

"I  see  the  point,  Aleck.  But,  by  Jove,  it's  hard 
to  believe." 


174       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Well,  you  don't  need  to  believe  it  if  you  don't 
want  to.  I  don't  say  it's  so.  I  only  say,  that's 
the  way  I  have  it  doped  out.  But  it  doesn't 
make  a  mortal  bit  of  difference  whether  it's  so  or 
not,  as  long  as  someone  over  in  the  District 
Attorney's  office  doesn't  dope  out  the  same 
thing.  And  fortunately  they're  off  on  another 
trail." 

"But  Crosby  looks  you  right  in  the  eye,  throws 
his  head  back  like  a  man,  and  declares " 

"  What  of  that?  Do  you  remember  how  Carlyle 
Harris  went  to  the  chair  up  there  in  Sing  Sing?  He 
nodded  politely  to  the  assembled  guests  as  he 
entered  the  room,  walked  right  up  to  the  chair  and 
sat  down,  and  then,  in  the  most  deferential  way, 
said,  'Warden,  have  I  your  permission  to  speak?' 
'Certainly,  Mr.  Harris,'  mumbled  the  warden,  with 
a  lump  in  his  throat.  Harris  held  up  his  head, 
faced  the  audience  and  said,  very  slowly,  but 
calmly:  'Gentlemen,  I  die  absolutely  innocent  of 
the  crime  of  which  I  was  convicted.'  Then  he 
leaned  back  in  the  chair,  cool  as  a  cucumber,  while 
the  guards  adjusted  the  straps  with  trembling 
fingers,  and  one  or  two  of  the  witnesses  fainted." 

"I  remember.     He  certainly  had  the  nerve." 

"No,  not  especially.  He  had  a  certain  amount 
of  intelligence,  and  was  guilty;  that  is  all.  It's 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  175 

merely  a  question  of  intelligence,  and  mental 
training.  You  remember  the  nice,  polite  little 
sermon  on  abstract  morality  that  Doctor  Waite 
preached,  with  permission  of  the  judge,  when  he 
was  being  sentenced  to  the  chair,  don't  you? 
Waite  admitted  killing  two  people,  and  boasted  that 
he  had  tried  to  kill  a  third.  Harris,  for  his  mother's 
sake,  denied  killing  any  one,  but  there  wasn't  an 
iota  of  doubt  of  his  guilt.  But  both  of  them  knew 
that  they  had  broken  the  eleventh  commandment 
and  had  to  take  their  medicine;  and  they  both 
showed  the  same  kind  of  fortitude — which  the 
public  calls  nerve. 

"But  you  remember  how  different  it  was  with 
that  chap  Garibaldi  whom  we  defended  a  couple  of 
years  ago?  He  was  absolutely  innocent.  There 
isn't  a  shadow  of  doubt  about  it.  But  he  went 
to  the  chair  all  the  same;  and  they  had  to  carry 
him  to  it,  all  collapsed  and  half  dead,  with  his  teeth 
chattering." 

"Yes,  I  remember  that,  too.  How  do  you 
account  for  it?" 

"Why,  it  is  simple  enough.  When  they  are 
guilty  they  steel  themselves  to  prepare  for  it. 
They  know  the  jig  is  up.  They  visualize  the 
execution  scene  a  thousand  times  over,  and 
determine  that  they  will  die  game,  whatever  else. 


176        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

And  when  the  time  comes,  they  just  automatically 
go  through  with  it — same  as  all  of  us  go  through 
smaller  ordeals — playing  the  part  like  trained 
actors.  When  they  are  innocent,  they  keep  on 
indulging  the  hope  that  something  must  turn  up 
to  show  that  they  are  innocent.  They  have  a 
kind  of  inherent  belief  that  abstract  justice  must 
prevail — truth  is  mighty,  and  that  sort  of  thing, 
you  know.  And  when  nothing  does  turn  up  and 
they  find  themselves  on  the  way  to  the  chair  after 
all,  they  are  like  an  actor  who  goes  on  the  stage 
without  having  learned  his  lines.  They  have 
stage  fright;  go  all  to  pieces.  Trust  the  guilty  to 
show  the  nerve  every  time." 

"And  you  think  that  applies  to  Crosby?" 

"Certainly  it  does.  Crosby  shows  the  cold- 
blooded nerve  because  he  knows  he  did  it.  He'll 
go  to  the  chair  just  the  same  as  Carlyle  Harris 
did — politely  asking  permission  to  make  a  speech 
to  say  that  he  is  innocent.  Cortez  seems  to  show 
the  white  feather.  But  he  is  really  just  as  nervy  a 
man  as  Crosby,  only  he  feels  the  injustice  of  going 
to  the  chair  for  something  he  didn't  do." 

"  But  the  way  you  have  it  doped  out  he  is  really 
just  as  guilty.  He  meant  to  do  it — and  he  is  an 
accomplice  after  the  fact." 

"Yes,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  of  course  he  is  just 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  177 

as  guilty  as  Crosby.  But  he  didn't  actually  do 
the  shooting,  and  so  he  feels  that  he  isn't  really 
guilty.  Legally,  he  is  just  as  culpable  as  his  pal, 
but  he  can't  see  it  that  way.  You  know  how  it 
was  with  Dago  Frank  in  the  Becker  case.  He 
wasn't  really  there  when  the  job  was  done,  so  he 
felt  he  ought  not  to  have  got  what  the  other  boys 
did.  And  he  showed  less  nerve  than  any  of  the 
others.  So  Cortez,  when  he  goes  to  the  chair,  will 
break  down — same  as  he  went  all  to  pieces  and 
tried  to  kill  himself  the  other  day.  If  he  had  done 
the  job  with  his  own  hand  he  would  take  his 
medicine  like  a  man." 

"But,  good  Lord,  Aleck.  I've  thought  all 
along  that  he  did  do  it  with  his  own  hand — with  his 
trusty  six-shooter." 

"No.  That  is  where  the  State  has  it  doped  out 
all  wrong.  They're  way  off  on  the  wrong  trail, 
and  you  can  bet  I  don't  intend  to  put  them  on  the 
right  one." 

"Of  course  not;  but  what  is  the  hand  we're  to 
draw  to?" 

"Ah,  now  you're  getting  down  to  business. 
These  reminiscences  we  have  just  been  indulging 
in  don't  really  get  us  anywhere.  The  question  is, 
not  what  happened  on  the  morning  of  July  8th,  but 
what  we  can  put  forward  as  a  plausible  substitute 


178       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

for  what  happened.  Fortunately,  I  have  some 
ideas  on  that  subject  also." 

"  I  have  no  doubt  of  that.     But  what  are  they?  " 

"Briefly,  this.  That  chap  that  was  around  with 
Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage — confound  it 

I  never  can  think  of  his  name Oh,  yes, 

Cambon,  is  now  out  of  the  country,  nobody  knows 
where.  So  I  thought  at  first  it  would  be  best  to 
let  him  be  the  goat.  But  on  second  thought  I 
reflected  that  he  used  to  be  around  a  lot  with 
Crosby  here,  and  so  it  wouldn't  do  to  use  him.  I 
don't  know  or  care  whether  he  was  in  on  the  deal. 
I  think  he  was.  I  sometimes  thought  that  De 
Lage  might  be  in  on  it,  too,  though  of  course  not 
mixed  up  with  the  actual  murder  and  loot.  I 
mistrust  all  these  foreign  military  men.  How- 
ever, that's  neither  here  nor  there.  We  must 
forget  Cambon,  because  he  was  too  close  to  Crosby 
and  had  been  seen  in  the  office,  and  we  must  let 
Lopez  be  the  goat.  Lopez  is  down  in  Mexico,  out 
of  the  way,  and  if  luck  is  with  us  some  greaser  has 
put  a  bullet  through  him  before  now.  Anyhow, 
they  can't  get  at  him,  so  he  makes  a  perfectly 
useable  goat." 

"But  Lopez  was  thick  with  Cortez,  and  Crosby 
knew  him." 

"Of  course.    But  of  course  also  we  don't  intend 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  179 

to  name  him.  Lopez  is  only  the  unknown  per- 
son— probably  a  representative  of  the  Mexican 
government — who  made  the  finger-print  and  stole 
the  papers. 

"Do  you  see?  He  stole  Cortez's  silent-shooting 
gun  either  from  Cortez  (if  Cortez  will  stand  for 
that — find  out  about  that  to-morrow)  or  from  the 
man  Cortez  loaned  it  to. 

"He  learned  about  Theobold  having  the  patent 
and  specifications  of  this  gun,  but  he  didn't  care  so 
much  about  that  as  he  did  about  the  patents  and 
specifications  of  the  apparatus  that  Doctor  Harris 
and  Captain  De  Lage  were  working  on  and  by  way 
of  selling  to  the  French  Government,  and  he  knew 
that  these  also  were  in  Theobold's  safe.  So  he 
went  after  them.  And  he  got  them — killing 
Theobold,  and  incidentally  leaving  his  finger- 
print. 

"The  fact  that  the  police  haven't  been  able  to 
find  the  man  who  did  leave  the  finger-print  is  of 
course  our  trump  card.  And  the  fact  that  some  of 
the  papers — not  the  most  important  ones — were 
mailed  to  Cortez — if  that  is  a  fact — fits  in  with  our 
theory,  which  is  that  the  murderer  wished  to  make 
it  appear  that  what  he  had  done  was  really  the 
work  of  Cortez.  He  wanted  not  only  to  steal 
Cortez's  weapon,  and  sell  it  to  the  Mexican  Govern- 


180       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

ment,  but  he  wanted  Cortez  himself  out  of  the  way 
so  that  he  could  have  plain  sailing." 

"And  what  about  Crosby?" 

"I  am  coming  to  that.  That  represents  our 
most  difficult  problem,  I  admit,  but  I  think  we  can 
handle  it,  or  at  least  make  a  plausible  bluff  at  it. 
Crosby,  of  course,  declares  that  he  will  go  on  the 
witness  stand  and  convince  the  jury  that  he  is 
telling  the  absolute  truth  when  he  says  that  he 
saw  and  heard  nothing." 

"He  will  insist  on  it,  Aleck." 

"Well,  if  we  can't  help  it,  we'll  let  him  go  on. 
Then  we  will  bring  forward  about  four  good 
experts  in  the  field  of  nervous  and  mental  aber- 
ration to  show  that  Crosby  is  a  very  impressionable 
and  susceptible  man,  of  highly  nervous  organi- 
zation, who  would  probably  be  thrown  into  a 
hypnotic  trance  if,  while  he  was  in  a  state  of  great 
mental  excitement — very  angry,  for  example — a 
man  were  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  to  appear 
before  him  and  point  a  pistol  in  his  face.  If,  then, 
the  man  with  a  pistol  commanded  him  to  sit  down 
and  keep  quiet,  and  to  remain  there  at  work  until 
someone  called  him,  he  would  probably  do  exactly 
as  bidden.  And  he  would  remember  nothing  that 
happened  during  this  period.  A  person  in  a 
hypnotic  trance  forgets  everything,  you  know. 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  181 

He  probably  would  not  even  remember  seeing  the 
man  with  a  pistol  that  threw  him  into  the  trance." 

"Great  Scott,  Aleck!  I'll  admit  you  can  prove 
to  any  jury  that  black  is  white  and  the  moon  is 
made  of  green  cheese  and  that  water  runs  uphill, 
but  I  don't  see  how  you  can  hope  to  get  away  with 
a  story  like  that." 

"Man  alive,  you  can  get  away  with  pretty 
nearly  any  story  when  you  introduce  a  lot  of  talk 
about  occult  mental  conditions  and  support  your 
talk  with  the  testimony  of  the  brain-sharps  who 
lug  in  gabble  about  'brain-storm,'  'moral-idiocy,' 
*  sub-conscious  aberration,'  and  'temporary  dis- 
association  of  the  subliminal  self,'  and  stuff  like 
that.  The  jury  doesn't  pretend  to  understand 
what  is  being  said,  of  course,  and  in  the  end  they 
strike  a  compromise  between  the  rival  experts  by 
eliminating  all,  and  deciding  the  matter  according 
to  common  sense. 

"The  District  Attorney  is  going  to  make  the 
mistake  of  putting  forward  the  hypothesis  that 
Crosby  was  accessory  to  a  cold-blooded  and  pre- 
meditated plot  to  murder  and  rob.  The  jury  will 
hate  to  believe  it  when  they  look  at  Crosby  him- 
self with  his  fine,  open  countenance  and  his  clear, 
honest  eye,  and  look  also  at  the  sad  and  appealing 
face  of  the  woman  who  loves  him,  who  will  be  right 


182        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

there  in  evidence;  but  unless  we  can  raise  in  their 
minds  a  doubt  as  to  whether  Crosby  may  not  have 
been  mentally  oblivious  even  though  physically 
present  while  the  thing  was  being  done,  they've 
simply  got  to  convict  him  whether  they  want  to 
or  not. 

"The  brain-sharps  with  their  psycho-analytical 
twaddle  befogging  the  atmosphere  furnish  the  only 
means  of  raising  the  doubt  that  might  save  him. 
I  don't  feel  too  sure  that  they  can  do  it.  But 
there  isn't  any  other  way.  Unless  something  un- 
precedented turns  up  at  the  trial  in  our  favour — 
and  Heaven  knows  I  don't  expect  it — I  can't  see 
that  we  have  a  gambling  chance  except  along  the 
line  of  some  such  story  as  I  have  just  outlined." 

"I  am  afraid  we  haven't  anything  better  than  a 
mighty  long  shot,  even  at  that." 

"Forget  it,  man,  forget  it.  Where  is  the 
optimism  you  were  parading  so  freely  a  little  while 
ago?  A  game  is  never  lost  until  the  last  court's 
heard  from.  Don't  forget  that  we  have  one  other 
asset — the  fact  that  Theobold  was  the  kind  of  man 
that  needed  killing.  He  was  a  blatant  old  fraud, 
with  his  pretended  philanthropies;  and  he  got  the 
long  end  of  it  every  time — with  Doctor  Harris  and 
De  Lage,  for  example,  just  the  same  as  with 
Cortez." 


HOW  IT  LOOKED  TO  THE  DEFENCE  18S 

"But  we  can't  get  that  before  the  jury." 

"The  jury  will  know  it,  and  you  can  bet  they 
will  be  human  enough  to  consider  it,  law  or  no  law. 
Their  sympathies  will  be  with  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar  from  the  outset.  I  wouldn't  be  surprised  if 
we  get  a  hung  jury.  And  if  we  don't,  I'll  bet 
even  money  we  win  on  the  appeal,  and  two  to  one 
that  neither  Crosby  nor  Cortez  goes  to  the  chair 
within  two  years." 

"No  takers,"  said  the  junior  partner.  "Who 
ever  knew  a  convicted  murderer  to  go  to  the 
chair  inside  of  two  years  in  New  York?" 

"Well,  make  it  three  years." 

"That's  a  little  less  of  a  jug-handled  proposition, 
but  even  at  that  you're  fairly  safe.  I  have  often 
thought  of  starting  a  life-insurance  society  to  take 
three-year  risks  on  convicted  murderers  for  a  small 
premium.  But  what  have  you  got  up  your  sleeve, 
Aleck?" 

"The  ace  of  trumps.  I  just  learned  to-day  that 
Cortez  is  pretty  sure  to  get  a  good  little  stake 
out  of  the  Mexicans  for  that  pistol  invention,  and 
of  course  Crosby  is  in  on  the  diwy.  Then  it 
begins  to  look  as  if  Cortez's  claim  that  Harris  and 
De  Lage  infringed  his  patent  would  be  allowed, 
and  in  that  event  Cortez  and  Crosby  will  come  in 
for  a  big  chunk  of  that  French  money  also.  A 


184        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

cool  three  million  between  the  two  deals,  I 
should  say." 

"Enough  said!  Go  no  farther.  If  there  is  that 
much  money  in  sight,  I'll  lay  you  a  hundred  to  ten 
that  neither  of  the  boys  goes  to  the  chair  within 
five  years,  even  though  they  both  are  convicted 
next  month." 

The  senior  partner  laughed,  and  winked  know- 
ingly as  he  began  fumbling  with  some  papers  on  the 
desk. 

"No  takers,  Bob,"  he  said.  "No  takers.  By 
the  way,  Bob,  a  nice  ethical  profession  the  practice 
of  criminal  law — isn't  it  now?" 

"It  suits  me  all  right — so  long  as  we  have  clients 
with  a  wad  like  that,"  said  the  junior  partner. 
"Suits  me  down  to  the  ground." 


CHAPTER  XVI 
The  Case  for  the  Prosecution 

SENORA  Cortez  and  Cvnthia  Collins  had 
become  close  friends  during  the  long  and 
trying    days    when   the   husband    of   one 
and  the  .fiance  of  the  other  were  waiting  there  in  the 
Tombs  for  the  trial  that  must  either  vindicate 
them  and  send  them  out  free  men  or  pronounce 
then*  lives  forfeit  to  the  State. 

Jack  Henley,  boy  though  he  was,  had  been  a 
stalwart  friend  to  both  women.  Having  been  a 
boy  in  the  office  with  two  such  capable  persons 
as  Frank  Crosby  and  Cynthia  Collins,  he  had 
naturally  entertained  from  the  outset  a  very  great 
admiration  for  them  both.  This  admiration  had 
ripened  into  closer  friendship  than  usually  exists 
between  a  boy  of  fourteen  and  his  elders.  And 
now  that  his  friends  were  in  trouble,  he  left  no 
stone  unturned  to  do  them  a  service. 

He  believed  absolutely  in  the  innocence  of 
Frank  Crosby.  Yet  he  realized  that  the  evidence 
against  him  was  very  damaging,  and,  to  his  in- 

185 


186       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

tense  regret,  he  had  been  unable  to  find  the 
slightest  clue  to  any  solution  of  the  mystery  that 
would  tend  to  clear  his  friend. 

As  for  Senor  Cortez,  Jack  was  not  quite  so  sure. 
But  Sefiora  Cortez,  he  had  conceived  a  kind  of 
romantic  affection  for  Sefiora  Cortez.  The  sort 
a  youth  of  that  age  usually  entertains,  at  one  time 
or  another,  for  some  woman  ten  years  his  senior. 
And  could  he  have  dreamed  how  well  he  was 
presently  to  serve  her,  his  cup  of  contentment 
would  have  reached  the  brim. 

But  as  it  was,  in  the  face  of  what  he  knew  of  the 
evidence,  and  the  confident  published  assurance 
that  came  from  the  District  Attorney's  office,  he 
found  no  hope,  when  he  thought  of  Senor  Cortez. 

"He  must  be  guilty,"  Jack  said  in  the  course  of 
one  of  the  endless  discussions  that  he  had  with 
Cynthia  Collins.  "The  evidence  is  all  against 
him." 

"Yet  Sefiora  Cortez  believes  in  him  just  as  we 
believe  in  Frank.  Don't  you  think  there  may  be 
some  terrible  mistake?  We  must  try  to  believe  in 
him,  Jack.  For  the  Sefiora's  sake,  just  as  she 
tries  to  believe  in  Frank.  Of  course  she  never  says 
anything,  but  I  feel  that  in  her  heart  she  thinks 
that  Frank  knows  things  about  it  that  he  won't 
tell." 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          187 

"I  know  she  does,  though  she  always  speaks  so 
nicely  about  it." 

"  Oh,  Jack,  if  even  our  friends  feel  that  way,  what 
can  we  expect  of  a  jury  made  up  of  strangers.?" 

About  the  only  response  that  Jack  could  find  was 
his  oft-reiterated:  "It's  bound  to  come  out  all 
right,  Miss  Cynthia.  It's  got  to  come  out  all  right." 
But  as  time  went  on  he  seemed  to  say  this  with 
less  confidence,  and  with  a  face  that  betokened 
growing  apprehension. 

There  was  every  evidence  of  mental  strain  in  the 
faces  of  the  boy  and  the  two  women  as  they  sat 
together  in  the  court  room  that  November  morn- 
ing when  the  case  against  Emanuel  Cortez  and 
Frank  Crosby  was  called  for  trial. 

The  trial  opened  with  the  usual  bickerings  over 
the  selection  of  a  jury,  in  which  the  effort  seemed 
to  be  made,  according  to  custom,  to  eliminate  all 
persons  who  had  intelligence  enough  to  have 
formed  an  opinion.  Nevertheless,  despite  these 
efforts,  a  fairly  representative  body  of  twelve  citi- 
zens was  finally  selected. 

David  Webster  at  last  arose  to  outline  the  case 
for  the  State,  preparatory  to  calling  witnesses. 
He  made  a  very  clear,  candid,  straightforward 
statement  as  to  what  the  State  believed  itself  able 
to  prove,  summarizing  the  contentions  and  argu- 


188        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

ments  and  facts  on  which  the  State  rested  its 
allegation  that  Emanuel  Cortez  and  Frank  Cro  sby 
had  conspired  and  associated,  in  common  with  at 
least  one  other  person,  unknown  to  the  prosecu- 
tion, to  bring  about  by  felonious  means  the  death 
of  John  Theobold. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  said  Webster,  "let 
me  first  outline  for  you  the  case  of  the  State  against 
Emanuel  Cortez,  by  whom,  as  the  State  will 
attempt  to  demonstrate,  the  fatal  shot  was  fired. 

"First  a  brief  recital  of  facts.  On  the  morning 
of  July  8th,  Cortez  came  to  New  York  on  a  Long 
Island  train  that  is  due  at  the  Pennsylvania 
Station  at  9:56,  but  which,  as  will  be  proved  by 
records  of  the  company,  was  six  minutes  late, 
arriving  at  10:02.  About  four  minutes  are  re- 
quired to  walk  from  the  station  to  the  office  that 
Cortez  occupied  in  a  building  on  Broadway.  He 
could,  therefore,  have  been  in  his  office  at  10:06. 

"The  murder  occurred,  as  we  shall  be  able  to 
prove  to  you  by  conclusive  evidence,  about  two 
minutes  later. 

"We  shall  show  you  that  at  just  about  the 
moment  when  Cortez  arrived  in  his  office,  his  wife, 
Senora  Celeste  Cortez,  was  with  Mr.  Theobold 
in  his  office,  and  stood  for  a  few  moments  looking 
out  on  the  crowds  that  were  watching  the  air- 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          189 

plane,  piloted  by  one  Sylvia  Lawson,  who  was 
flying  over  with  the  alleged  purpose  of  giving  New 
York  a  lesson  in  preparedness. 

"It  is  alleged  by  the  State,  and  is  not  denied, 
that  when  Theobold  escorted  Seiiora  Cortez  to 
the  door  of  his  office  there  was  no  one  in  the 
outer  office  but  Frank  Crosby,  one  of  the  defend- 
ants here  on  trial." 

The  speaker  turned  to  indicate  Crosby,  who  sat 
staring  straight  ahead,  his  eyes  seemingly  fixed  on 
vacancy,  and  who  gave  no  evidence  of  having: 
heard  his  name  mentioned. 

"Theobold  returned  to  his  office,  paused  a 
moment  or  two  at  the  window,  turned,  and  seated 
himself  at  his  desk,  and  took  up  the  telephone  re- 
ceiver to  answer  a  call.  He  spoke  a  few  words  in 
response  to  his  wife,  who  was  at  the  other  end  of 
the  wire,  and  then  was  struck  by  the  assassin's  bul- 
let. He  dropped  the  receiver,  turned  in  his  chair, 
reeled,  and  toppled  forward  by  the  window,  dead. 

"It  is  the  contention  of  the  State  that  Emanuel 
Cortez,  from  his  own  window,  aimed  a  shot  with  a 
revolver,  which  will  be  produced  here  in  court, 
with  such  accuracy  that  no  second  shot  was  re- 
quired, although  he  stood  there  ready  to  deliver  a 
second  and  subsequent  shots  had  not  the  first  one 
proved  effective." 


190        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Webster  paused,  turned  slowly,  and  pointed  to 
Cortez,  who  returned  his  gaze  for  a  moment,  and 
then  averted  his  eyes. 

"Gentlemen,  no  one  saw  Cortez  deliver  that 
shot.  But  that  was  not  strange,  for  all  eyes  were 
directed  toward  the  airplane,  and  doubtless  he 
stood  for  only  a  moment  at  the  window.  No  one 
heard  the  shot,  but  that  was  not  strange,  for  the 
air  was  resonant  with  the  clamour  of  imitation 
bombs  and  torpedoes.  Moreover,  it  is  probable 
that  the  pistol  was  equipped  with  a  silencer  known 
to  have  been  invented  by  Cortez  himself,  about 
which  you  will  hear  more  as  we  proceed.  Neither, 
gentlemen,  did  any  one  see  the  dead  man  fall. 
But  there  in  his  office  he  was  found  dead  none  the 
less. 

"And  ia  the  office  of  Cortez  was  found  the  dam- 
aging evidence  of  the  revolver  with  which  the  deed 
was  done.  The  assassin  had  taken  the  precaution 
to  remove  not  only  the  discharged  shell  but  the 
other  cartridges  from  the  weapon,  and  to  clean  the 
barrel  carefully.  But  he  made  the  fatal  mistake 
of  leaving  in  his  desk  the  weapon  itself. 

"Of  course  he  did  not  anticipate  discovery. 
The  criminal  never  does.  He  did  not  for  a  moment 
think  that  suspicion  would  be  pointed  toward 
him. 


191 

"But  when  the  revolver  was  found  by  the 
representatives  of  the  law,  Cortez  trembled  like  a 
child,  and  gave  every  appearance — as  will  be  told 
by  competent  witnesses — of  full  appreciation  that 
his  crime  had  found  him  out." 

Those  who  were  watching  Cortez  noted  that  he 
was  whispering  vehemently  to  one  of  his  attor- 
ney's, who  seemed  to  respond  reassuringly. 

"But  this  is  by  no  means  all,  gentlemen.  In 
the  desk  of  Cortez,  that  same  morning,  was  found 
a  letter  containing  documents  stolen  from  John 
Theobold's  safe.  The  letter  that  contained  these 
documents  was  mailed,  as  the  stamp  shows,  from  a 
Brooklyn  office  at  6:30  o'clock  on  the  night  of 
July  8th.  Note  the  hour,  gentlemen.  There 
had  been  time  enough  for  the  person  who  mailed 
that  letter  to  leave  the  office  of  John  Theobold  at 
closing  time,  and  go  to  his  home  in  Brooklyn. 

"I  would  ask  you  to  recall  that  the  home  of 
Frank  Crosby,  whom  the  State  presents  to  you 
as  accomplice  in  the  murder,  is  in  Brooklyn. 
I  would  then  tell  you  that  the  envelope  in 
question  was  addressed  to  Emanuel  Cortez  in 
script  which,  as  competent  experts  will  tell  you, 
is  the  handwriting  of  Frank  Crosby  crudely 
disguised." 

He   pointed   his   hand   accusingly   at   Crosby, 


192        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

whose  keen  black  eyes  now  met  the  eyes  of  his 
accuser  unflinchingly. 

"Here,  then,  is  unequivocal  evidence  of  collu- 
sion and  complicity  between  Cortez  and  Crosby 
in  the  commission  of  the  crimes  of  murder  and 
robbery. 

"I  may  add  that  it  will  be  shown  that  Cortez 
and  Crosby  had  long  been  acquainted,  and  that 
Crosby  had  more  than  once  been  seen  dining  in 
the  company  of  Cortez  and  his  wife.  The  fact 
of  this  latter  association  enters  into  the  case  in  an- 
other connection  because  it  led  to  jealousy  on  the 
part  of  Crosby's  fiancee,  Miss  Cynthia  Collins,  on 
account  of  his  relations  with  the  wife  of  Cortez, 
which  jealousy  was  instrumental  in  leading  Miss 
Collins  to  accept  attention  from  John  Theobold  that 
aroused  the  rage  of  Crosby,  and  actuated  him,  in 
part,  at  least,  in  conspiring  against  his  employer." 

All  eyes  turned  to  Miss  Collins,  who  drew  her 
head  up  defiantly,  though  her  face  flushed  crimson. 

"Now  as  to  the  motives  that  actuated  Cortez. 
As  to  that,  we  can  speak  with  full  confidence. 
Criminologists  tell  us,  gentlemen,  and  their  finding 
accords  with  common  experience,  that  there  are 
but  three  motives  that  impel  men  to  crimes  of  this 
character:  There  is  the  motive  of  jealousy,  there 
is  the  desire  for  money,  and  there  is  the  motive  of 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          193 

revenge  for  some  personal  wrong,  real  or  im- 
aginary. 

"In  this  case,  it  will  be  shown  that  all  three 
motives  have  combined.  Cortez  was  jealous  of 
the  attention  paid  his  wife  by  Theobold.  I  say 
nothing  at  the  moment,  gentlemen,  as  to  what 
were  the  actual  relations  of  this  woman  with  the 
murdered  man.  That  is  immaterial,  so  long  as  it 
is  shown  that  these  relations  were  such  as  to 
arouse  the  jealousy  of  her  husband.  That  such 
is  the  case  will  be  shown  by  the  admissions  of 
the  woman  herself,  who  does  not  deny  that  her 
husband  had  become  so  enraged  that  he  had 
threatened  to  kill  Theobold — a  threat  which  he 
carried  out  in  due  course,  as  we  shall  see. 

"Next,  as  to  the  second  motive — the  desire  for 
money.  It  will  be  shown  that  Cortez  had  in- 
vented a  device  which  he  regarded  as  exceedingly 
valuable,  and  which,  in  point  of  fact,  he  had  sold 
to  a  representative  of  the  Mexican  Government, 
the  terms  of  the  sale  being  completed  on  the 
afternoon  of  July  7th,  the  day  before  this  murder 
occurred.  Theobold  had  advanced  money  to  en- 
able the  inventor  to  prosecute  his  study  and  perfect 
the  mechanism,  which  had  to  do  with  the  project 
of  making  a  pistol  both  silent  and  smokeless 
when  discharged.. 


194        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Incidentally,  gentlemen,  you  will  see  how  this 
invention  by  itself  demonstrates  the  exceptional 
familiarity  of  this  accused  person  with  firearms. 
I  may  add  that  we  shall  demonstrate  to  you  that 
his  reputation  in  Brazil  is  that  of  being  one  of  the 
most  expert  revolver-shots  in  a  country  famed 
for  its  marksmen. 

"But  to  proceed  with  the  matter  of  patents. 
These  were  taken  out  in  the  name  of  Cortez, 
but  had  been  by  him  assigned  to  Theobold,  in 
recognition  of  the  obligation  incurred  through  the 
loan  of  money  to  Cortez  by  Theobold.  At  the 
time  when  the  assignment  was  made,  the  patents 
were  of  doubtful  value.  But  now,  thanks  to  the 
developments  of  July  7th,  they  had  become  im- 
mensely valuable.  It  was  of  vital  importance, 
from  a  financial  standpoint,  to  Cortez  that  he 
should  secure  the  patent  specifications  and  ac- 
companying papers  in  which  the  assignment  had 
been  made  which  virtually  transferred  a  fortune 
from  his  hands  to  the  hands  of  Theobold." 

For  a  moment  the  prosecutor  seemed  to  hesitate. 
He  gave  a  furtive,  half-apologetic  glance  toward 
the  place  where  a  woman  in  black,  with  sad  face 
and  wistful  eyes,  sat  with  handkerchief  pressed  to 
her  lips.  The  voice  of  the  attorney  was  more 
subdued  as  he  continued : 


195 

"Gentlemen,  we  are  here  neither  to  praise  nor 
to  asperse  the  dead.  But  it  does  no  injustice  to 
the  fame  of  John  Theobold  to  say  that  he  was 
first,  last,  and  all  the  time,  a  business  man.  The 
patents  that  he  held  had  been  assigned  to  him  in  a 
legitimate  way  by  Cortez;  he  had  every  legal  right 
to  them.  There  was  not  the  remotest  probability 
that  he  would  relax  one  iota  of  his  legal  right 
without  something  that  appealed  to  him  as  ade- 
quate compensation.  There  were  but  two  possi- 
ble channels  through  which  Cortez  could  regain 
those  papers,  and  by  regaining  them  secure  the 
fortune  that  the  papers  represented.  One  of  these 
channels  involved  the  bartering  of  the  honour  of 
his  wife;  the  other  involved  the  crime  of  murder — 
with  the  aid  of  an  accomplice — and  that  accom- 
plice, of  course,  could  be  no  other  than  the  private 
secretary  of  Theobold,  who  was  in  position  to  aid 
in  the  completion  of  the  plan. 

"Gentlemen,  it  is  the  contention  of  the  State 
that  Cortez  is  madly  in  love  with  his  wife,  and  that 
she  fully  reciprocates  his  affection.  The  second 
alternative — murder — seemed  to  him  the  lesser 
evil. 

"So  he  devised  a  careful  plan,  based  on  the 
known  methodical  habits  of  John  Theobold,  ac- 
cording to  which  he  was  to  take  advantage  of  the 


196       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

commotion  that  would  occur  when  the  aviatrix, 
Sylvia  Lawson,  made  her  much-heralded  flight 
on  the  morning  of  July  8th. 

"He  arranged  with  Crosby  that,  through  ini- 
tiative of  the  latter,  the  only  two  other  persons 
who  were  habitually  in  the  private  office  of  John 
Theobold,  namely  the  stenographer,  Cynthia 
Collins,  and  the  office  boy,  Jack  Henley,  should  be 
absent,  so  that  Crosby  should  have  full  oppor- 
tunity to  rifle  the  safe,  undisturbed. 

"A  third  accomplice,  whom  the  State,  unfor- 
tunately, cannot  produce,  but  evidence  of  whose 
presence  will  be  demonstrated,  was  to  go  to 
Theobold's  office  either  to  guard  against  unwel- 
come intruders,  or  to  enable  Crosby  to  do  so  while 
he  finished  the  job  in  the  event  that  Cortez  's  shot 
miscarried,  or  failed  to  prove  immediately  fatal. 

"This  plan  worked  without  a  hitch,  gentlemen, 
Cortez  shot  from  his  window  at  the  appointed  time 
with  unerring  aim.  Crosby  rifled  the  safe  and 
secured  the  papers,  which  that  night  he  mailed  to 
Cortez,  directing  the  envelope  with  his  own  hand. 
The  accomplice  was  there  but  was  not  called  upon 
to  do  violence,  since  the  shot  of  Cortez  had  proven 
effective.  Had  it  been  necessary  for  him  to  use 
his  own  weapon  to  complete  the  iniquitous  job, 
it  was  doubtless  the  intention  that  he  should  then 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          197 

make  a  theatrical  assault  upon  Crosby,  leave 
him  seemingly  unconscious,  and  himself  escape 
with  the  papers.  If,  however,  the  shot  of  Cortez 
proved  effective,  the  accomplice  was  to  leave 
quietly,  Crosby  was  to  be  found  working  at  his 
desk — as  indeed  he  was  found — and  the  theory 
that  Theobold  had  been  killed  by  a  bomb  or  other 
object  dropped  from  the  airplane  was  expected 
to  pass  muster  in  explanation  of  the  tragedy. 

"I  will  show  you,  gentlemen,  that  this  plan  all 
but  succeeded.  It  will  be  shown  that  Crosby 
immediately  suggested  to  the  police  when  they 
came  to  the  scene  of  the  murder  that  death  had 
doubtless  resulted  from  the  impact  of  an  object 
dropped  from  the  airplane. 

"It  will  be  shown  that  Crosby  maintained,  and 
still  maintains,  that  no  one  had  entered  or  left  the 
office  after  the  visit  of  Sefiora  Cortez,  with  refer- 
ence to  which  I  shall  say  more  in  a  moment;  and, 
gentlemen,  there  would  have  been  no  witness  to 
dispute  this  story,  no  evidence  to  gainsay  it,  but 
for  the  occurrence  of  one  of  those  little  accidents 
that  everywhere  occur  to  mar  the  plans  of  even 
the  most  skilful  of  criminals. 

"The  accident,  gentlemen,  was  merely  this: 
As  the  accomplice  who  was  in  the  office  with 
Crosby  at  the  moment  when  the  shot  was  fired  by 


198        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Cortez  stooped  over  the  body  of  the  victim,  to 
make  sure  that  he  was  dead,  his  fingers  inad- 
vertently splashed  into  the  current  of  blood  that 
was  flowing  from  the  bullet  hole,  and  as  he  fumbled 
about  the  body,  turning  it  to  see  if  the  wound 
had  reached  a  vital  spot,  his  fingers  came  in  con- 
tact with  an  envelope  in  the  victim's  inside  coat 
pocket — a  long  envelope,  the  end  of  which  pro- 
jected from  the  pocket — and  left  there  a  telltale 
finger-print,  stamped  in  the  victim's  blood,  that 
was  to  become  the  crux  of  the  entire  solution  of 
what  would  otherwise  have  been  perhaps  an  in- 
scrutable murder  mystery. 

**  This  finger-print,  gentlemen,  discovered  by  the 
police  when  they  came  to  examine  the  body,  will  be 
presented  here  in  evidence,  and  it  will  demon- 
strate to  you  beyond  a  doubt  the  presence  of  an 
accomplice  of  Cortez  and  Crosby,  and  the  falsity 
of  Crosby's  contention  that  no  one  entered  or  left 
the  office.  By  itself,  even  if  unsupported  by  other 
evidence,  it  fixes  the  crime  of  complicity  in  this 
murder  indelibly  upon  Frank  Crosby." 

The  attorney's  voice  had  risen  as  he  approached 
this  climax,  and  as  he  ended,  he  turned  full  upon 
Crosby  and,  leaning  forward,  almost  touched  him 
with  an  accusing  finger.  But  when,  after  an 
impressive  pause,  he  resumed  his  speech,  his  voice 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          199 

had  again  taken  on  its  tone  of  habitual  restraint 
and  of  persuasive  argument  rather  than  of  de- 
nunciation, as  he  said: 

"It  is  a  little  thing,  gentlemen,  that  finger-print; 
a  little  thing  in  itself,  but  a  big  thing  in  its  im- 
plications. It  demonstrates  the  presence  of  this 
accomplice  more  forcibly  than  if  the  man  himself 
had  been  seen  by  a  dozen  witnesses. 

"The  eye  witnesses  might  have  been  mistaken 
as  to  what  particular  door  the  man  entered. 

"They  might  have  been  mistaken  as  to  the  exact 
time. 

"They  might  even,  speaking  after  an  interval 
of  a  week  or  two,  have  been  uncertain  as  to  the 
exact  day  when  they  had  seen  a  given  man  enter 
a  given  door. 

"But  the  testimony  of  this  little  bloody  finger- 
print is  open  to  no  such  vagaries  of  memory  or  of 
vision  or  of  misinterpretation.  The  envelope  on 
which  it  was  made  had  come  in  that  morning's 
mail  and  to  this  day  is  fresh  and  clean  save  for  that 
imprint.  The  microscope  has  shown  that  the 
imprint  is  made  in  blood.  There  was  no  blood  at 
hand  with  which  it  could  have  been  made  except 
the  blood  of  John  Theobold. 

"The  finger-print  did  not  make  itself.  Even 
the  defence  will  not  ask  you  to  believe  that  it  was 


200        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

made  by  a  ghost  or  any  immaterial  agency.  It 
was  made  by  a  human  being,  and  that  human 
being  came  into  the  office  during  the  brief  interval 
when  all  its  regular  occupants,  except  Frank 
Crosby,  were  absent. 

"Had  the  man  who  made  the  imprint  known 
that  he  had  made  it,  or  had  Crosby  suspected  such 
a  thing,  the  entire  course  of  this  case  would  have 
been  utterly  different. 

"Gentlemen,  it  was  nothing  less  than  a  dispensa- 
tion of  Providence  that  this  imprint  should  have 
been  made,  and  that  it  should  have  been  made  by 
accident.  It  fixed  the  crime  of  complicity  in  the 
murder  of  Theobold  upon  Frank  Crosby  un- 
equivocally and  indelibly;  just  as  the  presence  of 
the  revolver  in  the  desk  of  Cortez  combined  with 
his  known  motives  and  the  presence  of  the  stolen 
documents  also  in  his  desk,  with  sundry  attendant 
circumstances,  fixed  the  crime  of  principal  in  the 
murder  indelibly  upon  Cortez." 

Webster  glanced  from  one  to  the  other  of  the 
accused  men  as  he  named  them.  Cortez  seemed 
to  boil  over  with  excitement,  while  his  attorney 
sought  to  pacify  him.  Crosby  was  calmly  digni- 
fied, as  if  oblivious  of  the  import  of  the  accusing 
facts. 

"One  other  word  as  to  motive,"  continued  the 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          201 

prosecutor.  "  I  have  said  that  Cortez  was  actuated 
also  by  a  desire  for  revenge.  In  proof  of  this  it 
will  be  shown  by  the  testimony  of  business  as- 
sociates of  Cortez  that  he  had  spoken  bitterly 
on  numerous  occasions  of  the  treatment  he  had 
received  from  Theobold.  He  had  more  than  once 
alleged,  when  anger  made  him  truthful,  that 
Theobold  had  taken  advantage  of  his  financial 
need  and  had  robbed  him  of  a  potential  fortune. 
In  recovering  that  fortune,  therefore,  as  repre- 
sented by  the  papers  taken  by  Crosby  from  Theo- 
bold's  safe  and  sent  by  him  to  Cortez,  he  was  not 
only  acquiring  the  money,  but  was  satisfying  his 
thirst  for  vengeance." 

The  attorney  paused  for  a  moment,  and  turned 
toward  Crosby  with  an  impressive  gesture. 

"Frank  Crosby's  motive  for  conspiring  to  com- 
mit this  crime  may  be  dismissed  with  few  words. 
Crosby  is  known  to  be  madly  in  love  with  his 
office  associate,  Miss  Cynthia  Collins.  He  is 
known  to  have  resented  bitterly  the  attentions 
shown  Miss  Collins  by  her  employer — attentions, 
gentlemen,  that  were  probably  absolutely  legiti- 
mate, yet  which  served  to  arouse  the  jealousy  of 
this  ardent  young  lover. 

"The  State  will  show  by  the  testimony  of  un- 
prejudiced witnesses,  gentlemen,  that  on  the  very 


202        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

morning  of  this  crime,  but  half  an  hour  before  its 
commission,  Crosby  and  Miss  Collins  had  quar- 
relled, and  he  had  assailed  her  with  bitter  re- 
proaches. The  cause  of  the  quarrel  is  admitted 
to  have  been  the  matter  of  Theobold's  attentions. 
That  Crosby  permitted  himself  to  indulge  in  this 
violent  outburst  on  that  particular  morning,  and 
at  a  moment  when  important  visitors  were  ex- 
pected (visitors  who,  in  point  of  fact,  arrived  while 
the  quarrel  was  still  in  progress),  was  no  doubt 
due  to  the  overwrought  condition  of  his  nerves, 
induced  by  his  guilty  knowledge  of  the  impending 
murder. 

"The  fact  of  that  quarrel,  then,  gentlemen, 
stands  not  only  as  proof  of  Crosby's  murderous 
feeling  toward  his  employer,  but  as  contributory 
evidence  also  going  to  show  that  he  was  party  to 
the  murder  plot. 

"The  State  will  put  on  the  witness  stand  a 
physician  skilled  in  the  modern  art  of  psycho- 
analysis who  will  make  for  you  this  interpretation 
of  the  significance  of  the  fit  of  temper  thus  shown 
by  Crosby  at  the  same  time  that  he  furnishes 
you  with  no  less-interesting  interpretations  of 
sundry  other  psychological  aspects  of  the  case. 

"We  might  take  it  for  granted,  gentlemen,  that 
Crosby,  in  addition  to  satisfying  his  angry  jealousy 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          203 

against  Theobold  by  plotting  for  his  removal,  was 
also  to  profit  in  a  financial  way.  But  the  Law 
takes  nothing  for  granted,  and  the  State  will 
present  positive  evidence  showing  that  an  ar- 
rangement existed  between  Cortez  and  Crosby 
through  wliich  the  latter  was  to  share  in  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  sale  of  his  invention  to  the  Mexican 
Government.  The  man  who  negotiated  that  sale 
had,  in  point  of  fact,  been  introduced  to  Cortez 
by  Crosby;  and  the  State  will  produce  a  letter, 
found  in  the  desk  of  Crosby,  in  which  Cortez 
explicitly  agrees  to  share  with  Crosby,  to  the  extent 
of  25  per  cent.,  whatever  profits  may  come  to  him 
from  the  transaction  growing  out  of  his  intro- 
duction. 

"I  have  already  stated  that  said  profits  would 
amount  to  very  little  unless  the  papers  assigned 
by  Cortez  to  Theobold  could  be  recovered;  but 
that  they  would  be  very  significant  in  case  of 
such  recovery. 

"It  is  obvious  that  there  could  have  been  no 
utility  in  recovering  the  papers  without  first  ac- 
complishing the  death  of  Theobold. 

"Crosby  could  indeed  have  taken  them,  but 
their  mere  possession  would  have  been  unavailing 
so  long  as  Theobold  lived  to  prove  that  they  were 
his  property. 


204       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Here,  then,  gentlemen,  is  an  elaborate  and 
intricate  web  of  circumstantial  evidence  wound 
about  these  two  men,  binding  them  as  tightly  as 
if  the  meshes  were  made  of  cables  of  steel.  Thanks 
to  circumstantial  evidence  alone,  the  murder  of 
John  Theobold  is  fixed  upon  Emanuel  Cortez 
and  Frank  Crosby  so  unequivocably  that  no  man 
can  doubt  it.  The  mute  revolver  and  no  less  mute 
bullet  condemn  Cortez  more  convincingly  than 
the  tongues  of  a  thousand  eye  witnesses.  The 
finger-print  on  one  envelope  and  the  handwriting 
on  another  reveal  the  complicity  of  Crosby  more 
unequivocally  than  any  verbal  confession. 

"As  one  considers  this  evidence,  one  is  led  to 
marvel  as  to  what  manner  of  evidence  the  defence 
will  have  the  presumption  to  offer  in  alleged  re- 
buttal. Gentlemen,  I  venture  to  predict  that 
they  will  offer  nothing  that  could  with  propriety 
be  termed  evidence.  I  venture  to  predict  that 
they  will  reply  solely  on  an  appeal  to  your  sym- 
pathies, and  that  in  so  doing  they  will  attempt  to 
shield  these  criminals  behind  the  skirts  of  two 
beautiful  and  innocent  women.  And  because  of 
this  belief,  I  must  say  a  few  words  to  you  about 
the  share  that  these  two  women,  both  young  and 
beautiful,  have  played  in  this  nefarious  crime. 
In  particular,  I  wish  to  explain  and  interpret  for 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION  205 

you  the  visit  made  by  Senora  Cortez  to  the  office 
of  John  Theobold,  on  the  morning  of  the  murder 
and  only  a  few  minutes  before  the  shooting  actually 
occurred." 

All  eyes  turned  to  Senora  Cortez,  who,  sitting 
between  Jack  Henley  and  Cynthia  Collins,  seemed 
to  cower  and  shrink  like  a  beautiful  hothouse 
flower  withering  beneath  a  wintry  blast.  The 
face  of  the  attorney  seemingly  did  not  reassure 
her,  yet  it  was  not  unsympathetic  in  expression, 
and  Webster's  voice  was  kindlier  than  it  had  been 
before  as  he  continued: 

"At  the  outset,  gentlemen,  let  me  disabuse  your 
minds  of  the  thought  that  Senora  Cortez  had  any 
knowledge  of  the  plot  to  murder  Theobold.  The 
State  makes  no  suggestion  that  she  had  such 
knowledge.  She  was  aware,  howerer,  of  the  busi- 
ness relations  that  existed  between  Cortez  and 
Theobold,  and  she  had  used  her  influence  in  the 
early  day  to  foster  these  relations  and  at  a  later 
stage  to  develop  them. 

"After  it  began  to  be  evident  that  her  husband's 
patent  had  genuine  value,  she  endeavoured  to 
persuade  Theobold  to  restore  the  patent  to  the 
inventor,  or  at  least  to  turn  back  to  him  a  half 
interest  in  the  invention. 

"Undoubtedly    she    had    used    her    womanly 


206        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

charms  as  leverage  to  influence  the  mind  of  Theo- 
bold,  whose  susceptibility  to  such  charms  was 
proverbial.  But  in  so  doing  she  had  not  over- 
stepped the  bounds  of  decorum.  To  put  the 
matter  bluntly  before  you,  gentlemen,  she  had  not 
been  willing  to  make  the  sacrifice  that  Theobold 
demanded  in  recompense  for  the  restitution  of 
those  patents. 

"It  was  an  open  secret,  among  the  friends  of 
John  Theobold,  that  he  belonged  to  that  company 
of  financiers  who  believe  that  every  man  has  his 
price — that  every  woman  has  her  price.  Men  of 
that  type  are  willing,  when  following  the  dictates 
of  their  fancy,  to  gamble  high.  In  this  particular 
instance  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  Theobold 
was  ready  to  restore  the  patents  to  Cortez — 
for  a  consideration  not  measurable  in  terms  of 
money. 

"He  was  willing  to  pay  even  that  price  for  fa- 
vours that  could  not  be  more  cheaply  obtained. 

"There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Senora  Cortez 
wavered,  as  what  good  wife  might  not,  knowing  her 
husband's  financial  needs;  but  that — like  the  good 
woman  and  loyal  wife  that  she  is — she  finally  put 
this  temptation  aside  in  steadfastly  holding  to  the 
larger  duty. 

"It  is  believed  that  her  visit  to  Theobold  that 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          207 

morning  was  to  reiterate  her  decision,  and  to  ap- 
peal to  his  generosity. 

"Had  she  succeeded  she  probably  could  not 
have  prevented  the  crime,  for  after  leaving  the 
office  she  hurried  to  the  Pennsylvania  Station, 
intending  to  meet  her  husband  as  he  came  from  the 
train,  but  she  went  to  a  wrong  exit  and  did  not 
discover  her  mistake  until  sometime  after  Cortez 
had  left  the  station  and  gone  to  his  office.  But 
in  point  of  fact  her  mission,  as  you  have  just  been 
told,  was  unsuccessful,  and  had  she  met  her  hus- 
band at  the  station,  her  message  could  have  served 
only  to  fix  more  firmly  in  his  mind  the  intention  to 
carry  out  the  crime  already  planned. 

"The  State,  then,  gentlemen,  admits — regret- 
fully but  candidly  admits — that  John  Theobold 
had  driven  a  hard  bargain  with  Cortez  and  that 
he  had  sought  to  drive  a  yet  unkinder  one  with 
the  Brazilian's  unfortunate  wife.  As  representa- 
tive of  the  State,  I  gladly  make  obeisance  to 
Senora  Cortez.  She  stands  before  us  a  woman 
who  nobly  strove  to  aid  her  husband,  and  who 
failed  only  because  the  price  of  success  would 
have  been  a  price  that  no  wife  who  honours  her 
husband  as  she  honours  Cortez  can  pay.  She 
stands  before  us  a  lonely,  disconsolate,  pathetic 
figure;  but  neither  her  beauty  nor  the  pathos  of  her 


208        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

situation  must  be  allowed  to  delude  us  into  tamper- 
ing with  the  scales  of  justice.  Justice  is  not  blind, 
gentlemen,  as  is  sometimes  alleged.  Justice  is 
eagle-eyed.  But  she  fixes  her  eye  on  facts,  on  the 
essentials;  she  considers  the  larger  issues  and  the 
needs  of  the  community  as  a  whole;  she  pities  the 
individual,  but 

"If  it  please  your  Honour,  I  object  to  this 
harangue,"  broke  in  the  attorney  for  the  defence. 
"The  District  Attorney  is  arguing  the  case  and  not 
outlining  the  evidence  he  is  to  present." 

"Objection  sustained.  The  State  will  kindly 
reserve  its  arguments  and  interpretations  until  the 
appropriate  time." 

Weaver  whispered  to  one  of  his  associates  a 
moment  later  that  he  had  been  careful  not  to 
interrupt  till  just  the  psychological  moment. 
"The  more  he  slops  over,  the  better  it  will  look 
for  us  in  the  appeal,"  he  commented. 

"Gentlemen,"  continued  the  representative  of 
the  State,  "I  bow  to  the  decision  of  the  Court,  and 
I  apologize  for  even  seeming  to  suggest  that  men 
of  your  intelligence  will  be  swayed  one  jot  from  the 
evidence  by  any  consideration  of  false  sentiment, 
let  alone  of  sentimentality.  That  evidence,  gentle- 
men, as  it  will  now  be  presented,  will  demon- 
strate to  your  minds  beyond  the  remotest  possi- 


CASE  FOR  PROSECUTION          209 

bility  of  doubt  or  equivocation  that  Emanuel 
Cortez  as  principal,  and  Frank  Crosby  as  accom- 
plice and  accessory  before  and  after  the  fact,  are 
guilty  of  the  cold-blooded  and  premeditated  mur- 
der of  John  Theobold,  as  charged  in  the  indict- 
ment." 

As  the  prosecutor  stopped  speaking  Cortez 
sprang  to  his  feet,  despite  the  efforts  of  a  man  on 
either  side.  His  face  was  haggard.  His  eyes 
were  the  eyes  of  a  hunted  animal. 

"It  is  a  lie!"  he  screamed.  "It  is  all  a  lie! 
I  did  not  shoot  Sefior  Theobold.  I— 

Then  his  lawyers  managed  to  silence  him. 

Meantime,  Frank  Crosby  sat  in  moody  silence, 
his  eyes  fixed  on  the  face  of  the  prosecutor  with  an 
expression  not  pleasant  to  see.  The  knotted 
muscles  at  his  temples  showed  how  firmly  his  jaws 
were  clenched.  His  hands,  too,  were  closed  so 
tightly  that  they  were  blanched,  and  his  whole 
form  was  rigid.  Throughout  the  harangue  he 
had  sat  as  fixedly  as  a  statue,  and  for  some  mo- 
ments after  the  speech  was  finished  he  neither 
moved  nor  spoke. 

When,  finally,  he  did  relax,  it  was  only  to  turn 
his  head  in  the  direction  of  Cynthia  Collins,  to 
meet  her  appealing,  anguished  gaze  with  a  wan 
smile. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
Dark    Clouds — and    a    Streak    of    Silver    Lining 

IT  IS  but  fair  to  the  prosecution  to  say  that  the 
State,  in  presenting  the  case  against  Cortez 
and  Crosby,  brought  forward  witnesses  who 
seemed  adequately  to  establish  every  contention 
made  by  the  Assistant  District  Attorney  in  his 
opening  address. 

The  witnesses  included  all  the  persons  who  have 
figured  in  this  narrative,  together  with  a  company 
of  others  who  testified  as  to  matters  of  contribu- 
tory importance,  notably  the  business  relations  of 
Cortez  and  Theobold  on  one  hand  and  Crosby  on 
the  other,  and  to  the  reputation  of  both  Cortez  and 
Crosby  for  quickness  of  temper  combined  with 
firmness  of  will  and  fixity  of  purpose. 

There  were  also  experts  in  various  fields — 
revolver  experts,  handwriting  experts,  medico- 
psychological  experts — who  were  called  to  give  an 
interpretation  of  certain  aspects  of  the  facts  that 
the  State  had  placed  in  evidence,  and  with  whose 
aid  the  State  professed  to  expect  to  place  the 

210 


DARK  CLOUDS  AND  SILVER  LINING  211 

guilt  of  the  accused  persons  entirely  beyond 
controversy. 

The  first  company  of  experts  gave  evidence 
as  to  the  leaded  missile  that  had  been  found  in  the 
safe  in  Theobold's  office. 

There  were  three  of  these  experts,  two  of  them 
from  the  police  department,  and  one  from  the 
regular  army,  and  all  testified  that  the  mass  of 
metal,  although  now  utterly  misshapen,  had 
originally  been  a  revolver  bullet.  The  mass  had 
been  carefully  weighed,  and  it  was  found  to  cor- 
respond with  the  bullets  in  certain  types  of 
cartridges  that  would  fit  the  revolver  found  in 
the  desk  of  Cortez. 

The  experts  were  equally  unanimous  in  asserting 
that  a  revolver  such  as  Cortez 's  six-shooter  would 
readily  send  the  ball  across  the  two-hundred-yard 
space  between  the  buildings  in  which  respectively 
were  the  offices  of  Cortez  and  Theobold.  In 
answer  to  cross  questions,  they  admitted  that  it 
was  a  rather  wonderful  shot,  but  each  of  the  ex- 
perts was  disposed  to  think  that  he  himself  could 
duplicate  it. 

The  experts  were  asked  to  take  up  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  the  jury  the  matter  of  trajectories,  ex- 
plaining that  a  ball  shot  from  a  revolver  at  the 
distance  in  question  would  have  just  the  requi- 


212        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

site  drop  to  carry  it  from  the  mark  indicating 
where  it  had  impinged  on  Theobold's  desk  to  the 
place  where  it  struck  the  steel  wall  of  the  safe — 
a  drop,  to  be  explicit,  of  four  and  a  quarter  inches 
in  the  distance  of  eight  feet  and  nine  inches  that 
separated  the  desk  from  the  safe. 

It  had  been  shown  by  witnesses  as  to  matters  of 
fact  that  the  building  in  which  Cortez's  office 
was  located,  being  a  new  building,  had  very  few 
occupants;  only  three  or  four  others,  in  point  of 
fact,  on  the  same  level  on  the  side  of  the  building 
facing  toward  Theobold's  office.  Careful  search 
had  of  course  been  made  in  each  of  these  offices, 
with  the  result  of  satisfying  the  police  that  no  one 
occupied  any  one  of  them  who  so  much  as  knew 
John  Theobold  by  sight,  or  had  any  business 
dealings  with  him.  Moreover,  no  vestige  of 
incriminating  evidence  of  any  kind  had  been 
found  in  any  other  office  than  that  of  Cortez. 

That,  of  course,  was  only  negative  evidence. 
But  the  fact  that  Cortez's  window  lay  in  exact 
vertical  plane  of  the  bullet  flight  (as  determined 
by  the  points  of  impact  with  desk  and  safe) 
was  a  bit  of  positive  evidence  that  accorded  con- 
vincingly with  the  finding  of  the  pistol  in  Cortez's 
office.  There  were,  of  course,  windows  above  and 
below  in  the  same  vertical  plane;  but  from  below 


DARK  CLOUDS  AND  SILVER  LINING  213 

Theobold  would  not  have  been  visible  as  he  sat  at 
his  desk;  and  the  floors  above  were  open  lofts  oc- 
cupied by  scores  of  garment  workers. 

When  all  the  facts  were  embodied  in  hypo- 
thetical questions,  the  conclusion  seemed  evitable, 
that,  in  point  of  fact,  the  missile  that  killed  John 
Theobold,  and  which  was  here  in  evidence,  was  a 
bullet  fired  from  a  revolver  entirely  similar  to  or 
identical  with  the  one  belonging  to  Cortez,  and 
fired  from  the  window  of  the  office  of  Cortez.  The 
expert  testimony  seemed  to  be  in  harmony  with 
common  sense. 

"I  am  afraid  there's  more  truth  than  poetry 
in  what  they  say,"  whispered  Mr.  Weaver,  chief 
attorney  for  the  defence,  to  one  of  his  associates, 
as  he  listened  to  the  testimony. 

But  no  one  who  heard  his  cross  examination  of 
the  expert  a  little  later  would  have  suspected  that 
he  had  found  the  testimony  convincing.  On  the 
contrary,  the  sneering  tone  of  his  questions  seemed 
to  indicate  very  clearly  that  he  had  found  the  en- 
tire presentation  ridiculous.  Nevertheless,  he  made 
no  substantial  progress  toward  modifying  the 
direct  testimony  of  the  experts;  as  Jack  Henley, 
who  was  an  interested  spectator  near  at  hand, 
noted  with  chagrin,  if  not  with  surprise. 

The    simple    truth    was    that    Mr.    Weaver — 


214        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

believing  his  clients  to  be  guilty — had  laid  out  the 
plans  for  the  defence  along  the  lines  of  what  might 
be  described  as  expectancy  and  persistent  opposi- 
tion. He  hoped  that  something  might  turn  up 
that  would  give  him  the  cue  for  effective  action; 
and  in  default  of  that  he  intended  to  pile  up  a 
series  of  over-ruled  objections  that  might  possibly 
serve  him  a  good  turn  in  the  appeal  that  he  of 
course  contemplated  making  after  the  conviction 
of  his  clients. 

With  the  latter  thought  in  mind  he  permitted 
the  prosecuting  attorney  to  enter  a  good  many 
channels  of  investigation  that  might  not  have  been 
entirely  pertinent,  reserving  his  objections  until  he 
felt  pretty  sure  that  the  bounds  of  permissible 
evidence  had  been  overstepped,  and  rather  hoping 
that  the  Court  would  not  sustain  the  objection, 
and  thus  would  let  the  debatable  testimony 
find  its  way  to  the  Appellate  Division,  in  the 
ultimate  interest  of  a  new  trial  for  his  clients. 

All  this  implies  looking  rather  far  ahead,  but  the 
criminal  lawyer  who  does  not  look  far  ahead  is  not 
likely  to  achieve  the  reputation  that  Mr.  Weaver 
had  acquired. 

Taken  in  its  entirety,  the  testimony  presented 
by  the  State  undoubtedly  constituted  a  very 
elaborate  and  convincing  body  of  evidence  tend- 


DARK  CLOUDS  AND  SILVER  LINING  215 

ing  to  sustain  the  hypothesis  of  premeditated  mur- 
der with  collusion  between  the  accused  persons. 

It  may  be  well  to  summarize  the  evidence  here, 
by  way  of  introducing  some  points  that  have  not 
hitherto  been  brought  before  the  reader,  and  to 
show  how  very  substantial  a  case  the  State  had 
been  able  to  present. 

First,  as  to  evidence  proving  that  the  fatal  shot 
must  have  come  from  the  window  of  Cortez,  there 
was  presented  the  following  chain  of  circumstances : 

(1)  The  mark  of  the  bullet  in  the  safe  and  the 
mark  on  the  desk  establish,  of  course,  the  exact 
vertical  plane  in  which  the  bullet  travelled.     This 
plane,  projected,  extends  directly  to  the  window 
of  Cortez's  office. 

(2)  This  office  is  on  the  same  level  as  the  office 
of  Theobold.     No  one  on  a  lower  level  could  even 
see  any  one  sitting  at  Theobold's  desk,  where  he  is 
known  to  have  sat  when  shot. 

(3)  The   windows  in  the  three  stories  above 
Cortez's  office  lying  in  the  vertical  plane  of  the 
bullet's  flight,  from  which  windows  Theobold  at 
his  desk  might  have  been  visible,  were  proved  to 
have  been  crowded  with  factory  girls  who  were 
watching    the    flight    of    the    airplane.     By    no 
possibility,  then,  could  the  shot  have  come  from 
one  of  these  windows,  or  from  the  roof  above, 


216        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

which  was  also  crowded  with  sightseers,  without 
the  knowledge  of  scores  of  witnesses. 

(4)  The    building    in    which    Cortez's  office  is 
located  is  so  high  that  no  building  beyond  it  is 
visible  from  the  Schuyler  Building,   so  no  one 
could  conceivably  have  seen  Theobold  as  he  sat 
at  his  desk  except  from  the  Cortez  building  or  from 
an  airship. 

(5)  The  airplane  was  directly  above  the  Schuyl- 
er Building,  never  in  a  position  from  which  any 
missile  shot  from  it,  other  than  an  exploding  bomb, 
could  conceivably  have  entered  Theobold 's  office; 
and  the  experts  testified  that  the  missile  found  in 
Theobold's  safe  was  not  a  fragment  of  a  bomb,  but 
a  bullet  from  a  large  revolver. 

All  of  which  amply  proved,  according  to  the 
contention  of  the  State,  that  the  missile  which 
killed  John  Theobold  not  only  might  have  come 
from  the  window  of  Emanuel  Cortez,  but  must 
have  come  from  that  window,  and  could  have 
come  from  no  other  place. 

In  proof  that  Cortez  himself  was  the  person  who 
had  fired  the  bullet,  the  following  evidence  was 
presented : 

(1)  Cortez  admitted  being  alone  in  his  office  at 
about  the  time  of  the  murder. 

(2)  He  had  in  his  possession  in  the  office  a  big 


six-shooter  which  may  well  have  been  the  murder 
weapon. 

(3)  He  was  known  to  be  a  crack  shot. 

(4)  He  was  jealous  of  Theobold's  attention  to 
his  wife. 

(5)  No  one  at  neighbouring  windows  heard  the 
fatal  shot;  and  Cortez  was  the  only  person  known 
to  have  a  silencer  that  would  make  it  possible  to 
shoot   the   revolver   from   that   window   without 
being  heard. 

(6)  He  felt  that  Theobold  had  wronged  him 
in  a  business  way,  and  he  had  threatened  to  take 
revenge. 

(7)  Granted  that  he  secured  certain  documents, 
which   were   found   in  his   possession,   he   would 
greatly  profit  financially  by  Theobold's  death. 

(8)  He  might  have  seen,  and  probably  did  see, 
his  wife  standing  at  the  window  with  Theobold 
five  minutes  or  less  before  the  shooting. 

(9)  In  his  office  was  found  an  important  docu- 
ment belonging  to  Theobold  and  always  kept  hi 
his  safe;  said  document  having  been  mailed  to 
Cortez  by  Crosby  (or  in  an  envelope  directed  by 
Crosby)  some  hours  after  the  murder. 

(10)  Cortez   showed   great  terror  when   inter- 
viewed by  the  police,  and  in  particular  when  the 
name  of  Theobold  was  mentioned. 


S18        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

(11)  Subjected  to  psycho-analysis  by  the  medi- 
cal experts,  Cortez  revealed  very  suspicious  as- 
sociations of  names  and  ideas;  and  narrated,  when 
hypnotized,  dreams  that  were  interpreted  by  the 
experts  as  being  altogether  incriminating. 

(12)  Finally,    Cortez    had    attempted    suicide 
since  his  detention  in  the  Tombs:  and  suicide 
everywhere  is  considered  by  criminologists  to  be 
equivalent  to  confession  of  guilt. 

The  aggregation  of  evidence,  the  State  con- 
tended, established  the  guilt  of  Cortez,  as  principle 
in  the  murder,  not  only  beyond  reasonable  doubt, 
but  to  the  point  of  absolute  demonstration. 

Meantime,  the  guilt  of  Crosby,  as  an  accomplice, 
was  alleged  to  be  demonstrated  with  equal  cer- 
tainty by  the  following  established  facts: 

(1)  He  admitted  being  alone  in  the  office  at  the 
time  of  the  murder,  whereas  no  one  could  have 
entered  or  left  Theobold's  private  room  without 
passing  directly  beside  his  desk. 

(2)  A  finger-print  on  an  envelope  in  the  dead 
man's  pocket  proved  that  someone  did  enter  and 
leave  that  room  at  the  time  of  the  murder,  during 
the  period  when  no  one  but  Crosby  was  in  the 
outer  office. 

(3)  Papers  missing  from  the  safe  must  have 
been  taken  either  by  Crosby  or  the  other  accom- 


DARK  CLOUDS  AND  SILVER  LINING  219 

plice,  and  part  of  these  papers  were  found  in  the 
office  of  Cortez,  in  an  envelope  directed  in  a  hand 
which  the  experts  declared  to  be  the  hand  of 
Crosby,  crudely  disguised. 

(4)  Crosby  was  jealous  of  attentions  paid  by 
Theobold  to  his  fiancee,  Cynthia  Collins,  and  had 
made  angry  protests  against  these  attentions  only 
a  few  minutes  before  the  murder. 

(5)  Crosby  is  known  to  have  been  on  intimate 
terms  with  Cortez  and  expected  to  share  in  the 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  Cortez  patent,  the 
pistol  silencer,  and  had   the   same   motive   that 
Cortez  had  for  securing  the  papers  from  Theo- 
bold's  safe  and  insuring  the  permanent  silence 
of  Theobold  himself. 

(6)  Crosby  had  maintained  a  stubborn  silence 
when  submitted  to  the  "third  degree"  and  the 
tests  by  psycho-analysis  that  the  experts  regard 
as  highly  suspicious.     To  deny  guilt  absolutely, 
and  stand  pat  on  the  bald  denial,  is  regarded  by 
the  experts  as  being,  in  its  way,  as  characteristic 
a  manifestation  of  guilt  on  the  part  of  a  person  of 
Crosby's  temperament  as  voluble  denials  and  the 
attempt  at  suicide  are  characteristic  of  a  criminal 
of  the  temperament  of  Cortez. 

All  of  which  was  held  by  the  State  to  establish 
the  guilt  of  Crosby  as  an  accomplice  in  the  mur- 


der  of  John  Theobold  beyond  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt. 

And  to  meet  this  mass  of  evidence,  which 
seemed  to  pile  mountain  high  the  proof  of  the 
guilt  of  his  clients,  the  attorney  for  the  defence 
contented  himself  with  introducing  an  objection 
from  time  to  time  at  just  what  he  hoped  would 
prove  to  be  the  debatable  point  between  the 
status  of  permissible  evidence  and  that  of  im- 
permissible; together  with  the  propounding  of 
questions  that  he  hoped  would  sound  as  mysterious 
and  unintelligible  to  the  jurors  as  they  sounded 
to  his  own  ears  while  he  was  phrasing  them.  In 
general,  the  purpose  of  the  defence  was  to  deny 
every  allegation,  and  trust  to  luck.  Such,  at  any 
rate,  was  the  conclusion  at  which  the  Assistant 
District  Attorney  had  arrived  after  listening  for  a 
while  to  his  opponent's  objections  and  to  his 
seemingly  inane  cross  questioning. 

The  attorney  for  the  State  had  been  somewhat 
nonplussed,  however,  at  the  curious  attitude  of 
counsel  for  the  defence  toward  the  experts  who 
testified  as  to  the  handwriting  of  the  address 
on  the  envelope  found,  along  with  the  alleged  in- 
criminating documents,  in  the  desk  of  Cortez. 
The  prosecuting  attorney  may  or  may  not  have 
noticed  that  Jack  Henley  had  become  greatly 


DARK  CLOUDS  AND  SILVER  LINING  221 

excited  when  these  documents  were  put  in  evi- 
dence, and  had  beckoned  to  Mr.  Weaver  and 
whispered  to  him  hurriedly  for  a  few  minutes. 
But  in  any  event  it  was  hard  to  account  for  the 
utter  nonchalance  with  which  Mr.  Weaver  re- 
garded— or  disregarded — the  testimony  of  the 
three  experts  who  swore  that  the  address  on  this 
envelope  was  in  the  handwriting  of  Frank  Crosby. 

When,  after  direct  examination  of  these  experts, 
he  had  said:  "Your  witness,  Mr.  Weaver,"  that 
gentleman  had  replied,  "No  questions,"  without 
so  much  as  raising  his  voice  or  looking  up  from  his 
desk. 

Considering  the  importance  of  the  testimony  in 
question,  as  one  of  the  two  pieces  of  evidence  that 
seemed  to  link  Crosby  inescapably  with  the  crime, 
such  nonchalance  was  disconcerting  to  say  the 
least. 

The  truth  was  that  the  words  which  Jack 
Henley  had  whispered  into  Mr.  Weaver's  ear  had 
come  to  him  as  the  first  message  of  hope  in  con- 
nection with  the  entire  trial.  He  beamed  on 
Robert  Warren,  his  chief  associate,  as  he  whis- 
pered: 

"Well,  by  Jiminy!  That's  the  first  intimation 
we  have  had  that  there  is  any  lining  at  all  in  this 
cloud — silver  .or  otherwise.  That's  one  very 


222        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

pretty  faux-pas,  and  it  ought  to  give  us  an  even 
chance  of  a  reversal,  for  Crosby  at  any  rate." 

Weaver's  mind  dwelt  always  on  reversals,  fol- 
lowing the  appeal  that  was  to  follow  the  conviction. 
Then  he  hoped  for  a  new  trial,  and  the  possibility 
that  some  of  the  evidence  would  have  grown  stale. 
The  thought  of  an  acquittal  in  the  first  instance 
did  not  occur  to  him  as  a  possibility.  Still,  of  course, 
there  is  always  a  chance  that  you  may  sufficiently 
becloud  the  issues  to  misguide  the  jury  and  lead  to 
a  disagreement.  And  the  fact  that  the  State  has 
gone  wrong  on  one  of  its  important  documents 
furnished,  seemingly,  at  least  a  little  material  for 
the  stirring  up  of  befogging  issues.  Weaver 
could  be  depended  upon  to  make  the  most  of  this 
material. 

"Bob,  I  wager  five  to  ten  that  we  get  a  hung 
jury  on  Crosby,  on  that  handwriting  evidence," 
he  said,  enthusiastically. 

"I'll  take  you,"  said  Warren.  Subsequently  he 
explained  to  one  of  his  associates  that  he  did  it  just 
to  stimulate  Weaver.  "Aleck  never  does  his  best 
unless  he  has  a  bet  up,"  he  explained.  "But  he 
knows  darned  well  that  he  will  lose  this  one. 
Crosby  would  get  twelve  'guilties*  on  the  first 
ballot  on  the  finger-print  alone." 

"Well,  you  couldn't  blame  the  jury,  could  you?  " 


DARK  CLOUDS  AND  SILVER  LINING  223 

"  Heavens,  no !  The  dunderhead  admits  that  he 
was  right  there.  If  he  had  sense  enough  to  claim 
that  he  stepped  out  in  the  hall  for  a  few  minutes — 
to  mail  a  letter  or  anything — there  would  be 
a  chance  for  him.  But  he  claims  he  was  right 
there  all  the  time — doesn't  admit  it  merely,  but 
claims  it.  Then  he  expects  them  to  believe  that 
he  saw  and  heard  nothing.  Can  you  beat  it?" 

"No;  but  you  can  match  it  with  the  claims  and 
admissions  of  pretty  nearly  every  other  criminal. 
They  always  set  some  simple  trap  for  themselves, 
and  carefully  put  their  foot  in  it." 

"Yes;  but  Crosby  seems  like  a  man  of  some 
elemental  intelligence." 

"Which  only  shows  that  you  can't  always  tell 
how  fast  an  automobile  can  go  by  looking  at  its 
tonneau." 

"Yep;  that's  about  the  size  of  it.  Still,  I  admit 
that  I  can't  quite  make  Crosby  out,"  said  the 
junior  partner. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
The  Case  for  the  Defence 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  perpetual 
interruptions  and  objections  of  the  at- 
torneys for  the  defence,  the  trial  had 
progressed  with  almost  incredible  speed — that  is, 
for  New  York. 

The  filling  of  the  jury  box  had  occupied  but  five 
days.  In  only  a  little  more  than  three  weeks  the 
prosecution  had  completed  its  case.  There  had 
been  many  witnesses.  Even  in  England,  where 
the  criminal  courts  move  with  relative  celerity, 
the  evidence  for  the  prosecution  could  scarcely 
have  been  presented  in  less  than  two  or  three  days. 
The  newspapers  congratulated  the  District  At- 
torney on  the  speed  with  which  he  had  brought 
forward  his  witnesses  and  massed  the  evidence. 

Reading  between  the  lines,  one  could  readily 
understand  the  consensus  of  newspaper  opinion 
to  be  that  the  testimony  had  been  presented  not 
only  expeditiously  but  effectively;  and,  indeed, 
that  there  could  be  but  one  outcome  of  the  trial. 

224 


THE  CASE  FOR  THE  DEFENCE     225 

And  if  such  was  the  general  opinion  it  was 
shared  quite  unreservedly  by  the  attorneys  for 
the  defence.  When  the  trial  opened  they  felt 
that  they  were  labouring  on  a  forlorn  hope,  and 
now  that  the  State  had  completed  its  case,  Messrs. 
Weaver  and  Warren  realized  that  their  worst 
anticipations  had  been  justified. 

"We  have  got  to  put  on  some  witnesses  as  a 
matter  of  course,"  said  the  senior  partner  as  they 
sat  in  their  office  late  in  the  evening  of  the  day  on 
which  the  prosecution  had  been  closed.  "But 
what  do  they  amount  to?  Of  course  we've  got 
experts  just  as  good  as  theirs — that  is  to  say,  good 
for  nothing.  We  can  put  up  a  bluff  about  that 
bomb-dropped-from-the-airplane  business,  but  you 
couldn't  expect  a  feeble-minded  child  to  believe 
it.  We'll  make  a  holler  about  a  lot  of  other  things, 
too.  I'll  work  the  theory  of  the  silent-gun  and  the 
hypnotist  murderer  to  the  limit.  But  it's  a  feeble 
bluff.  We  honestly  turned  just  one  trick,  and  one 
only,  during  the  entire  trial  up  to  date.  That's  the 
matter  of  the  letter  their  hand  experts  went  wrong 
on.  Never  knew  them  to  go  right  on  anything,  of 
course.  But  you  can't  always  prove  it.  This  time 
we  can.  And  it's  the  only  peg  we've  got  to  hang  a 
hat  on." 

"Yep;  I  know  that.     But  I  know  also  that  it 


226        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

will  look  to  the  jury  and  all  else  concerned  that 
there  are  a  whole  lot  of  pegs  all  around  the  wall 
by  the  time  your  hypnotic  tongue  has  told  about 
them.  I  don't  know  what  you'll  say,  and  I  guess 
you  don't  know.  But  with  the  handwriting  busi- 
ness to  start  out  with,  you'll  warm  up,  and  before 
you  are  through  the  jury  will  feel  like  acquitting 
the  boys  without  leaving  their  seats.  I've  heard 
you  before,  old  boy." 

"Thanks,  Bob,  thanks;  for  those  kind  words, 
much  thanks.  But  you'll  have  a  mighty  different 
story  to  tell  after  I'm  through.  I  never  was  up 
against  it  before  just  like  I  am  in  this  case. 
There  isn't  a  shadow  of  a  doubt  as  to  the 
essential  facts,  and  we  haven't  got  any  counter 
facts  to  throw  into  the  ring.  Can't  even 
manufacture  any  testimony  that  doesn't  look 
phoney.  What  the  deuce  can  you  say,  for  example, 
with  that  bloody  finger-print  staring  you  in  the 
face  while  the  big  six-shooter  is  held  at  the  back  of 
your  head;  and  Cortez  so  scared  you  don't  dare 
put  him  on  the  witness  stand,  knowing  he'll  break 
down  and  tell  the  truth;  and  Crosby  so  big  a  fool 
that  he  just  sits  there  and  mumbles  denials  in- 
stead of  working  his  imagination?  Huh!  it  makes 
me  tired." 

*'I  know  all  that,  old  man.     Don't  harp  on 


THE  CASE  FOR  THE  DEFENCE     227 

unpleasant  realities.  What  you  are  forgetting 
at  the  moment — but  won't  forget  to-morrow — is 
that  you  have  a  little  queen  of  spades  and  a  big 
queen  of  hearts  up  your  sleeve.  A  wife  and  a 
fiancee.  Both  of  them  peacherines.  A  brunette 
and  a  blonde.  One  small  and  one  large.  One 
dark  and  one  light.  Eyes  and  complexions  to  suit 
all  tastes.  And  both  undeniably  beautiful.  Do 
you  need  any  facts,  man,  to  support  a  case  like 
that?  Go  to  it,  man;  go  to  it.  Get  your  im- 
agination working;  prepare  a  supply  of  handker- 
chiefs; and  oil  your  silvery  tongue.  The  hearts 
of  the  twelve  good  men  and  true  will  do  the 
rest." 

To  which  the  senior  partner  responded:  "Oh, 
go  chase  yourself."  Then  he  relapsed  into  still 
moodier  silence,  like  a  man  nursing  a  grievance  that 
is  beyond  the  reach  of  remedies. 

The  junior  partner  tiptoed  from  the  room,  and 
as  he  closed  the  door,  the  telephone  bell  rang.  The 
distinguished  attorney  did  not  make  a  move,  even 
to  take  his  feet  from  the  desk. 

"Shut  up!  Whoever  you  are,  I  won't  answer 
you.  Nothing  but  bad  news  has  come  over  that 
*phone  for  a  week!" 

The  outburst  seemed  to  ease  his  mind,  but  as 
the  bell  continued  to  ring,  he  presently  took  down 


228       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

the  receiver  and  demanded  gruffly:  "Well? 
What's  wanted?" 

Half  a  minute  later  he  was  sitting  bolt  upright, 
leaning  eagerly  toward  the  telephone,  listening 
with  eyes  and  mouth  wide  open,  punctuating  what 
he  heard  with  eager  ejaculations  of:  "Yes,  yes;  go 
on — What  then? — The  Lord  bless  my  soul,"  and 
the  like. 

Two  or  three  minutes  later  the  attorney's  face 
looked  like  a  composite  picture  of  the  advertise- 
ments showing  the  man  who  found  the  right 
breakfast  food,  and  the  one  who  smoked  all  the 
choice  brands  of  cigarettes. 

What  Weaver  heard  over  the  telephone  came 
as  a  flood  of  words,  almost  inchoate,  yet  crammed 
full  of  vital  meaning. 

The  person  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire  told  his 
story  backward,  forward,  upside  down,  topsy- 
turvy, any  way  and  every  way,  but  the  lawyer, 
astounded  by  its  import,  was  in  no  mood  to 
wonder  at  the  manner  of  its  telling. 

It  was  left  to  the  trained  mind  of  the  attorney 
to  pick  out  the  essentials,  give  them  coherence, 
mould  them  into  shape,  and  get  them  ready  for 
public  distribution  on  the  morrow.  It  took  him  all 
night  to  do  this;  and  in  the  meantime  he  had  made 
a  tour  over  to  Brooklyn  in  his  car,  and  another 


THE  CASE  FOR  THE  DEFENCE    229 

tour  up  to  32nd  Street,  and  had  spent  three 
or  four  hours  talking  with  a  certain  young  person 
whom  he  advised  ultimately  to  go  to  bed  and 
endeavour  to  get  a  good  rest,  so  that  he  would  be 
prepared  for  the  exciting  developments  of  the 
following  day. 

As  to  the  lawyer  himself,  no  bed  for  him  that 
night.  But  he  had  no  need  of  sleep.  The  events 
of  the  evening  had  been  to  him  like  opium  and 
champagne. 

When  he  came  into  the  courtroom  the  next 
morning,  he  was  walking  on  the  air,  so  he  moved 
very  leisurely,  and  attempted  to  assume  an  at- 
titude of  dubiousness  and  an  aspect  of  dejection. 
He  wanted  to  provide  for  the  full  theatrical  effect  of 
the  surprise  he  had  in  store  for  his  friend  the  prose- 
cuting attorney  (who  last  night  had  smiled  on  him 
condescendingly  and  almost  pityingly)  and  the 
jury  (who,  as  he  felt  well  assured,  considered  the 
case  as  good  as  settled) ;  not  to  mention  the  judge, 
whom  he  had  harassed  and  angered  with  his 
bickerings  during  the  trial. 

He  continued  to  simulate  lassitude  and  de- 
jection as  he  sat  at  the  table  while  the  preliminaries 
of  opening  were  gone  through  with. 

At  the  appointed  time  he  arose  slowly  and 
walked  deliberately  to  his  place  before  the  jury 


230        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

box,  and  after  pausing  for  a  full  half  minute  to 
sweep  his  eyes  from  judge  to  jury  and  from  jury  to 
audience  and  back  again  to  the  jury,  seeming  to 
scrutinize  the  face  of  each  of  the  twelve  men  with 
earnest  attention,  he  finally  began  what  was 
doubtless  in  some  respects  the  most  remarkable, 
and  for  his  audience  the  most  surprising,  address 
ever  heard  in  a  New  York  courtroom. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  this  case  will  become  a 
classic  in  the  annals  of  criminology.  It  will  go 
down  in  history  as  illustrating  how  circumstantial 
evidence,  in  the  hands  of  a  skillful  advocate,  may 
serve  to  build  a  gallows  over  an  innocent  man. 

"The  prosecution  has  assured  us  that  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  is  the  very  handmaid  of 
truth.  I  will  show  you  that  it  may  be  the  arch 
advocate  of  error. 

"  The  prosecution  has  presented  to  you  a  series  of 
alleged  facts,  the  natural  deduction  from  which 
would  be  that  the  two  men  here  on  trial  are  guilty 
of  murder.  I  freely  admit  that  the  evidence  has 
been  presented  fairly;  that  no  evidence  known  to 
the  State  has  been  suppressed;  that  no  witness  has 
testified  falsely  or  maliciously;  and  that  every 
witness  has  attempted  to  tell  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  in  compliance 
with  his  oath.  I  freely  admit  that  the  evidence 


THE  CASE  FOR  THE  DEFENCE    231 

thus  amassed  seems  demonstrative.  I  know  that 
in  your  minds,  at  this  moment,  the  case  is  as  good 
as  closed. 

"But,  gentlemen,  I  will  show  you  that  nearly 
every  statement  that  has  been  presented  as  an 
essential  fact  is  not  a  fact  but  the  antithesis  of 
truth.  Paradoxical  as  this  assertion  must  seem,  I 
shall  justify  it  to  your  entire  satisfaction. 

"The  prosecution  has  presented  a  number  of 
alleged  experts,  who  have  testified  on  matters 
concerning  which  they  are  supposed  to  have  precise 
and  particular  knowledge.  I  believe  that  these 
experts  have  testified  honestly,  according  to  their 
light. 

"  But  I  will  show  you  that  every  essential  opinion 
presented  by  these  experts  for  your  delectation  was 
a  false  conclusion  based  on  false  premises. 

"The  prosecution  claims  to  have  demonstrated 
to  you  that  Emanuel  Cortez  and  Frank  Crosby  are 
guilty  of  causing  the  death  of  John  Theobold. 

"I  will  demonstrate  to  you  that  neither  one  of 
these  men  had  the  remotest  knowledge  of  the 
crime,  and  that  to  this  hour  they  have  been  entirely 
ignorant  of  the  nature  and  the  author  of  the  mur- 
der. 

"I  will  show  you  that  the  killing  of  John  Theobold 
was  a  cold-blooded  and  deliberate  murder,  ac- 


232        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

complished  by  a  person  against  whom  the  finger  of 
suspicion  has  never  been  pointed.  Yesterday, 
at  this  hour,  no  person  in  the  world  except  the 
murderer  had  any  cognizance  of  the  true  nature  of 
this  crime.  Before  another  twenty -four  hours  have 
passed,  all  the  world  will  know  its  every  detail. 

"  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  evidence  of  the 
State,  and  you  know  that  Emanuel  Cortez  stands 
accused  of  firing  the  shot  that  killed  John  Theo- 
bold. 

"I  will  present  a  witness  to  you  who  will  prove, 
to  your  absolute  satisfaction,  that  at  the  moment 
when  John  Theobold  lay  dead  in  his  office,  the 
life  blood  oozing  from  his  wound,  Emanuel  Cortez 
was  on  board  a  train  passing  under  the  East  River 
in  the  direction  of  New  York;  a  train  that  did  not 
reach  the  Pennsylvania  Station  until  after  this 
murder  was  accomplished. 

"This  witness  will  demonstrate  to  you  that  the 
missile  that  killed  John  Theobold  was  neither  a 
revolver  bullet  nor  a  fragment  of  a  bomb  or  other 
object  dropped  from  an  airplane. 

"He  will  prove  to  you  that  the  assassin  was 
neither  in  the  office  of  John  Theobold  nor  in  the 
building  in  which  Emanuel  Cortez  had  his  office. 

"He  will  tell  you  where  the  assassin  actually 
lurked,  and  what  weapon  he  used. 


THE  CASE  FOR  THE  DEFENCE    233 

"And  then  he  will  invoke  the  evidence  of  the 
sun  to  show  you  a  photograph  of  that  weapon  and 
of  the  murderer  who  used  it. 

"More  than  that,  he  will  project  upon  the 
screen  a  photograph  showing  the  murderer  in  the 
very  act  of  committing  the  crime.  I  apprehend, 
gentlemen,  that  there  are  not  half-a-dozen  photo- 
graphs in  existence  that  show  a  murderer  in  the 
act  of  slaying  his  victim.  And,  among  these,  the 
present  one  is  doubtless  absolutely  unique  in  that 
it  is  not  an  accidental  or  surreptitious  snapshot, 
but  is  a  photograph  taken  with  the  full  knowledge 
and  approval  of  the  assassin  himself.  This  may 
seem  to  you  incredible,  but  it  is  absolutely  true. 

"Finally,  gentlemen,  I  shall  undertake  not  only 
to  name  the  murderer,  every  detail  of  whose 
crime  has  been  exposed,  but  I  shall  bring  him  be- 
fore you  in  this  very  courtroom,  and  point  him  out 
to  the  officers  of  justice,  and  commit  him  to  their 
custody. 

"And  with  that,  gentlemen,  it  will  be  admitted, 
I  think,  that  the  defence  has  not  only  done  its  full 
duty  to  its  clients,  but  has  performed  a  public 
service  in  connection  with  this  particular  case 
through  the  apprehension  of  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable criminals  of  our  time,  and  in  addition 
has  conferred  a  measure  of  benefit  on  humanity  at 


234        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

large  and  in  perpetuity  through  having  demon- 
strated the  danger  of  relying  on  facts  gathered  with 
the  aid  of  prejudice,  interpreted  in  the  light  of 
preconception,  and  supported  by  the  false  in- 
ferences of  alleged  experts  paid  to  testify  in 
accordance  with  these  preconceptions. 

"  Circumstantial  evidence,  gentlemen,  will  never 
in  future  have  quite  the  force  or  quite  the  standing 
in  courts  of  justice  that  has  often  been  conceded  to 
it  in  the  past;  for  this  case  will  show  how  utterly 
misleading  may  be  a  chain  of  evidence  that  seems 
demonstrative;  how  utterly  false  may  be  the 
testimony  given  in  good  faith  and  interpreted  in 
all  honesty — yet  woefully  misinterpreted. 

"Gentlemen,  you  might  well  suppose  that  in 
carrying  out  the  programme  that  I  have  just  out- 
lined, clearing  my  clients  absolutely  of  all  taint  of 
crime,  and  handing  over  to  the  law  in  their  stead 
the  real  criminal,  I  should  require  the  aid  of  a  large 
coterie  of  witnesses  to  testify  as  to  matters  of  fact 
and  opinion. 

"Such  a  company  might  readily  be  presented. 
In  this  room  at  the  moment  about  thirty  experts 
are  gathered,  ready  to  testify.  But  I  have  no 
need  of  their  services. 

"I  shall  call  no  alleged  experts,  although  I  shall 
present  to  you  one  genuine  expert. 


THE  CASE  FOR  THE  DEFENCE    235 

"I  have  told  you  many  things  that  will  be 
subject  of  testimony  on  the  part  of  witnesses.  Let 
me  tell  you  now  that  all  these  witnesses  are  one. 

"Gentlemen,  I  shall  call  but  a  single  human  wit- 
ness, and  that  witness  a  boy  of  fourteen  years,  a 
youth  whose  acumen — or  shall  I  say  common 
sense — has  enabled  him  to  solve  a  mystery  that 
baffled  the  keenest  of  detectives,  the  most  saga- 
cious of  experts,  and  the  most  learned  prosecuting 
attorneys.  His  testimony  will  constitute  the  most 
vivid  and  most  compelling  demonstration  of  the 
triumph  of  common  sense  over  hypothesis  and 
circumstantial  evidence  and  faulty  observation  and 
preconception  and  misguided  expert  opinion  that 
was  ever  presented  in  a  court  of  justice. 

"I  call  now  to  the  witness  stand  Master  Jack 
Henley,  amateur  detective  and  unofficial  expert.'* 


CHAPTER  XIX 
Jack  Henley  as  Unofficial  Expert 

JACK  HENLEY  stepped  briskly  to  the  witness 
stand.  His  face  was  very  pale,  and  it  was 
evident  that  he  was  labouring  under  sup- 
pressed excitement.  But  he  had  himself  well 
under  control. 

"With  the  permission  of  the  Court,"  said  Mr. 
Weaver,  "I  will  ask  that  the  room  be  partly 
darkened — sufficiently  to  enable  the  jury  to  see 
plainly  some  pictures  that  I  wish  to  have  pro- 
jected on  the  screen." 

The  request  was  complied  with,  and  the  silence 
of  the  courtroom  was  rendered  still  more  effective 
by  the  gloom.  But  a  bracket  lamp  brought  the 
face  of  the  witness  into  full  relief.  Despite  its 
boyishness,  the  features  had  the  unmistakable  out- 
lines of  force  of  character  and  an  earnest  frankness 
that  made  instant  appeal. 

"My  boy,"  said  Mr.  Weaver,  "you  have  on  the 
table  beside  you  an  apparatus  which,  I  believe,  is 

236 


JACK  HENLEY  237 

designed  to  project  the  enlarged  image  of  any 
picture  placed  in  it  on  a  screen  or  on  the  wall, 
by  process  of  reflection?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"I  believe  you  can  show  two  or  three  pictures 
at  the  same  time  if  desired,  either  side  by  side  or 
super-imposed  one  over  the  other?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Who  invented  and  constructed  this  appa- 
ratus?" 

"Doctor  Harris." 

"  The  same  Doctor  Harris  who  was  the  friend  of 
Mr.  Theobold,  and  who  has  appeared  in  this 
court  as  a  witness,  testifying  to  a  telephone  con- 
versation that  took  place  with  Mrs.  Theobold  at 
about  the  time  of  Theobold's  death?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Did  you  use  this  apparatus  last  night  to  pro- 
ject certain  photographs  and  pictures  published 
in  an  evening  paper,  along  with  certain  photo- 
graphs of  your  own?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Are  you  an  expert  photographer?" 

"I  have  taken  a  lot  of  pictures,  and  some  of 
them  are  pretty  good." 

"In  projecting  the  pictures  last  night,  with  the 
new  apparatus  that  Doctor  Harris  made  for  you, 


238        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

did  you  make  certain  discoveries  that  seemed  to 
you  important?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"What  did  you  do  about  it  at  the  time?" 

"I  telephoned  to  you,  and  when  you  came,  I 
showed  you  the  pictures  and  told  you  what  I  had 
found." 

"Very  well.  Now  I  want  you  to  show  those 
pictures  to  the  jury,  just  as  you  showed  them  to 
me,  and  tell  them  about  it  just  as  you  told  me. 
Don't  be  nervous,  take  your  own  time  and  tell 
things  in  your  own  way,  in  answer  to  my  questions. 
First,  I  hand  you  here  an  envelope  with  an  ad- 
dress written  on  the  outside.  Will  you  please 
project  that  on  the  screen?" 

Instantly  there  appeared  on  the  screen,  sharply 
outlined  in  letters  several  inches  in  height,  the 
inscription:  "Mr.  Emanuel  Cortez,  67  West 
31st  St.,  New  York  City." 

Weaver  paused  for  a  few  moments,  to  give  full 
opportunity  for  everyone  to  scrutinize  the  in- 
scription intently.  Then  he  turned  to  the  wit- 
ness. 

"Master  Jack,  do  you  recognize  the  handwrit- 
ing of  that  inscription?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Are  you  positive?" 


JACK  HENLEY  239 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Will  you  tell  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  then, 
who  wrote  that  inscription?" 

"Yes,  sir;  I  wrote  it." 

"You  wrote  that  inscription?  Are  you  aware 
that  the  document  from  which  that  writing  on  the 
wall  is  projected — the  document  you  have  there 
in  your  machine  and  which  you  have  just  held  in 
your  hand — is  an  exhibit  put  in  evidence  by  the 
prosecution  in  this  case,  and  that  three  of  the  most 
distinguished  handwriting  experts  have  testified 
that  the  inscription  was  written  by  Frank 
Crosby?" 

"Yes,  sir.  But  it  isn't  Mr.  Crosby's  hand- 
writing, though  it  looks  a  good  deal  like  his.  It  is 
my  writing." 

"Can  you  explain  the  resemblance?  But  first, 
let  me  ask  you  to  throw  up  on  the  wall  beside  that 
inscription  this  other  inscription  on  the  paper  that 
I  now  hand  you.  There.  Gentlemen,  the  second 
inscription  that  you  now  see  lying  just  beneath  the 
first  is  in  many  ways  similar.  This  inscription 
also  is  in  evidence,  at  the  instance  of  the  prosecu- 
tion, as  representing  the  normal  handwriting  of 
Frank  Crosby. 

"This  is  admitted  to  be  Frank  Crosby's  hand- 
writing, undisguised;  and  it  was  the  contention  of 


240       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

the  State,  if  you  remember,  and  the  contention 
of  the  State's  experts,  that  the  other  inscrip- 
tion— the  one  shown  you  there  at  the  top  which  is 
on  the  letter  that  was  mailed  to  Emanuel  Cortez 
from  Brooklyn  on  the  night  of  July  8th — is  dis- 
guised, to  the  extent  that  the  capital  'E'  and  the 
capital  *C,*  and — in  the  last  line — the  capital 
*N'  are  conspicuously  modified.  Now  the  present 
witness  testifies  that  the  inscription  ascribed  to 
Crosby,  and  regarded  as  constituting  a  most  in- 
criminating piece  of  evidence  against  both  him  and 
Cortez,  was  not  written  by  Crosby  but  by  the 
present  witness  himself.  Yet  it  is  obvious  that 
there  is  a  pretty  close  general  resemblance  be- 
tween the  two  scripts — close  enough,  indeed,  so 
that  men  who  make  a  living  by  deciding  matter  of 
life  and  death  on  the  evidence  of  handwriting  had 
supposed  that  the  two  were  written  by  the  same 
hand.  I  ask  the  witness  to  explain  the  similarity 
if  he  can  do  so.  What  about  that,  Master 
Jack?" 

"Why,  you  see,  I  went  into  Mr.  Theobold's 
office  when  I  was  only  twelve  years  old.  Mr. 
Crosby  was  very  kind  to  me,  and  did  all  he  could 
to  help  me  learn  things.  I  didn't  write  a  very 
good  hand,  and  I  knew  it  was  important  that  I 
should  improve  it.  I  liked  Mr.  Crosby's  writing, 


JACK  HENLEY  241 

it  was  so  neat  and  regular,  and  so  I  used  it  as  a 
model  and  copied  sentences  out,  not  trying  to 
follow  it  exactly,  but  just  getting  it  so  it  looked 
neat  and  clear  like  Mr.  Crosby's.  And  so  it 
wouldn't  look  just  exactly  like  his,  as  if  I  tried  to 
imitate  him  too  closely,  I  used  Mr.  Theobold's 
handwriting  to  give  me  a  copy  for  the  capital 
letters.  You  see  in  the  two  inscriptions  there  that 
the  capitals  are  different.  Well,  if  you'd  look  at 
some  writings  of  Mr.  Theobold,  you'd  see  that 
my  capitals  are  a  good  deal  like  his." 

"Suppose  we  illustrate  that  by  throwing  on  the 
screen  a  sample  of  Mr.  Theobold's  writing.  I 
happen  to  have  here  an  envelope  that  he  himself 
had  addressed  to  Cortez.  Please  project  it. 
Thank  you.  There;  now  the  matter  is  pretty 
obvious.  In  general,  the  inscription  of  the  en- 
velope which  you  say  you  wrote  looks  much  more 
like  the  inscription  written  by  Mr.  Crosby  than 
it  does  like  that  written  by  Mr.  Theobold.  But 
your  capitals  are  quite  similar  to  Theobold's. 
In  effect,  then,  now  that  your  handwriting  is 
pretty  well  formed,  it  combines  the  characteristics 
of  the  handwriting  of  John  Theobold  and  the 
handwriting  of  Frank  Crosby,  although  it  is  not 
identical  with  either." 

"Yes,  sir;  and  I  suppose  it  is  natural  that  the  ex- 


242        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

perts  should  think  the  writing  was  Mr.  Crosby's 
because  it  is  a  lot  like  his;  and  that  they  should 
think  it  was  disguised,  because  the  capitals  are  so 
different.  I  suppose  if  a  fellow  wanted  to  dis- 
guise his  writing  about  the  most  natural  thing 
would  be  to  make  the  capitals  different  from  what 
he  usually  does." 

"So  the  experts  appear  to  think.  But  it  isn't 
necessary  for  you  to  make  any  suppositions  in  the 
matter.  You  may  just  answer  my  questions,  and 
let  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury  do  the  supposings. 
To  get  back  to  the  inscription,  which  you  say  is  in 
your  writing.  When  did  you  write  it,  where,  and 
under  what  circumstances?" 

"Mr.  Theobold  called  me  into  his  office  on  the 
morning  of  July  8th,  right  after  nine,  when  he  first 
came  in,  and  took  some  papers  from  the  safe  and 
put  them  in  this  envelope,  and  sealed  it  and  gave 
it  to  me  and  told  me  to  take  it  over  to  Senor  Cortez. 
Then  he  said  Mr.  Cortez  wouldn't  be  there  at  that 
hour,  and  told  me  not  to  go  until  I  had  gone  on 
another  errand,  up  to  his  house  to  see  Mrs. 
Theobold.  Then  I  was  to  take  this  letter  to  Mr. 
Cortez.  But  Mrs.  Theobold  wanted  me  to  come 
right  back  to  the  office  to  bring  a  parcel  for  Mr. 
Theobold.  But  when  I  got  there  everybody  was 
excited,  and  Mr.  Theobold  was  dead,  and  I  forgot 


JACK  HENLEY  243 

all  about  this  letter  for  Senor  Cortez  until  that 
night  after  I  got  home,  over  in  Brooklyn.  Then  I 
wrote  Mr.  Cortez's  name  on  the  envelope,  and 
stamped  and  mailed  it." 

"I  see,  and  it  never  occurred  to  you,  I  presume, 
when  you  mailed  this  letter,  that  you  were  doing 
something  that  with  the  aid  of  the  equipment  of 
a  prosecuting  attorney's  office  and  a  company  of 
handwriting  experts  might  help  materially  in 
sending  a  couple  of  innocent  men  to  the  electric 
chair?" 

"Of  course  not.  I  knew  the  papers  were  for 
Senor  Cortez,  and  Mr.  Theobold  had  said  it  was 
very  important  that  he  should  get  them  at  once. 
I  was  awfully  sorry  I  had  forgotten  them,  and  I 
thought  the  best  thing  was  to  mail  them  as  soon  as 
I  did  think  of  them.  I  don't  often  forget  things 
like  that,  but  I  was  a  lot  upset  about  the  murder, 
and  naturally  everything  was  all  mixed  up  that 
day." 

"Yes,  quite  naturally.  No  one  will  be  sur- 
prised, I  think,  that  you  should  have  forgotten 
about  the  letter.  But  tell  me,  now  that  you  are 
thinking  back  to  the  events  of  that  morning,  do 
you  recall  anything  that  Mr.  Theobold  said  to  you 
as  he  handed  you  the  letter?" 

"Yes,    sir.     He    was    feeling    very   jolly    that 


244        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

morning,  and  he  was  always  very  good  to  me,  un- 
less he  was  cross  about  something.  But  thia 
morning  he  was  smiling  and  whistling,  and  when 
he  handed  me  the  letter  he  said:  'Jack,  my  boy, 
as  you  grow  older  you'll  find  that  there  are  a  lot  of 
things  you'll  want  just  because  they  are  hard  to 
get;  and  the  harder  to  get  they  are,  the  more  you'll 
want  them.  And  if  people  hold  off  long  enough, 
you'll  pay  pretty  near  any  price  they  ask.  But 
they  all  have  their  price,  Jack;  they  all  have  their 
price.  And  if  you  have  the  price  to  pay,  you'll  get 
the  goods.'  Then  he  slapped  me  on  the  shoulder, 
and  winked  at  me,  and  said — 'Just  put  that  in  your 
pipe  and  smoke  it.'  Of  course  I  can't  remember 
exactly  all  the  words,  but  that  was  about  what  he 
said.  Anyway,  that  was  what  he  meant — you 
can  get  what  you  want  if  you  have  the  money  to 
pay  for  it.  He  was  always  telling  me  that,  and 
advising  me  to  save  up  part  of  my  salary,  so  that 
when  the  time  did  come  that  I  wanted  anything  a 
lot,  I  could  get  it." 

"You  gathered  from  what  Mr.  Theobold  said 
that  he  regarded  the  sending  of  this  envelope  of 
papers  to  Cortez  as  a  rather  important  matter?'' 

"Yes,  sir,  and  he  especially  told  me  not  to  say 
anything  about  it  to  anybody.  And  I  never  have 
until  I  told  you  about  it  when  the  letter  was  shown 


JACK  HENLEY  245 

here  in  court.  I  didn't  know  until  then  that  the 
letter  had  anything  to  do  with  this  case." 

"No;  that  was  one  of  the  documents  that  the 
police  quietly  garnered,  and  that  the  prosecution 
kept  carefully  hidden  up  its  ample  sleeve,  bringing 
it  out  only  for  the  inspection  of  handwriting  ex- 
perts. However,  you,  as  an  unofficial  expert,  have 
cleared  the  matter  up.  Part  at  least  of  the 
documents  stolen  from  Theobold's  safe,  about 
which  we  have  heard  so  much,  are  accounted  for, 
and  the  piece  of  evidence  that  held  the  attention 
of  this  court  for  two  days  and  that  seemingly 
showed  guilty  connivance  between  Crosby  and 
Cortez  and  linked  both  of  them  with  this  crime 
goes  into  the  scrap  heap. 

"Very  well.  Now,  if  you  please,  take  that 
exhibit  from  your  lantern,  and  I  will  hand  you 
another  one.  Here  it  is.  Please  project  this 
photograph." 


CHAPTER  XX 
The  Witness  of  the  Sun 

A\  INARTICULATE  murmur  of  surprise 
or  perhaps  of  horror  went  through  the 
courtroom  as  there  flashed  on  the  screen 
the  gruesome  picture  of  a  man  lying  on  his  face, 
apparently  dead,  with  his  arms  extended,  one  of 
them  lying  in  what  seemed  a  dark  pool  of  blood. 

"Master  Jack,  do  you  recognize  this  picture?" 
asked  the  attorney. 

"Yes,  that  is  Mr.  Theobold  lying  just  as  he  did 
after  he  was  dead,  over  there  by  the  window  in  his 
office." 

"Quite  right.  The  picture  is  a  photograph  that 
is  here  in  evidence,  as  an  exhibit  of  the  prosecution, 
sworn  to  have  been  taken  by  an  orderly  who 
accompanied  the  ambulance  surgeon,  who  arrived 
on  the  scene,  according  to  testimony  already  in 
evidence,  some  six  to  ten  minutes  after  the  alarm 
was  sent  out  over  the  telephone  from  Theobold 's 
office.  Now  I  ask  you,  Master  Jack,  to  look  at 
that  picture  attentively,  and  tell  me  at  what  hour 

24fl 


THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN       247 

it  was  taken.  Is  there  anything  about  the  picture 
that  enables  you  to  tell  me  that  positively?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Well,  then,  what  was  the  hour?" 

"Precisely  at  10  o'clock,  sir,  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  time." 

"Precisely  at  ten  o'clock?  You  are  positive  of 
that?  Did  you  see  the  picture  taken?" 

"No,  sir.     I  was  not  there  at  the  time." 

"  You  were  not  there?  Then  how  can  you  say  of 
your  own  knowledge  when  the  picture  was  taken? 
I  do  not  see  any  clock  in  the  picture,  do  you?" 

"No,  sir." 

"Then  what  do  you  see  that  enables  you  to 
swear  that  this  picture  was  taken  precisely  at  ten 
o'clock?" 

"Why  you  see,  sir — if  you  look  there  at  the 
picture — that  there  is  a  streak  of  light,  about 
half  an  inch  wide,  that  cuts  right  across  the  floor, 
where  the  sun  shone  in  at  the  edge  of  the  curtain 
at  the  upper  part  of  the  window.  You  see  the 
whole  floor  is  light  there  at  the  right,  where  the 
body  lies,  because  the  lower  half  of  the  window  is 
open.  But  off  at  the  left,  in  the  shadow  made  by 
the  curtain,  there  by  the  desk,  everything  is  dark 
except  that  the  streak  of  light  runs  over  to  the 
corner  of  the  desk,  and  up  against  the  desk." 


248       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Yes;  I  see  all  that.     But  what  about  it?" 

"Why,  you  see  that  the  streak  of  light  falls 
right  along  the  groove  in  the  concrete  floor.  Of 
course  the  streak  of  light  would  move  across  the 
floor  slowly  as  the  sun  moves,  like  the  mark  on  a 
sun  dial,  and  it  falls  along  that  groove,  and  against 
the  corner  of  the  desk,  at  precisely  ten  o'clock  in 
the  morning." 

"How  do  you  know  that?" 

"I  have  another  photograph  that  shows  it." 

"Is  this  the  photograph?" 

"Yes." 

"Project  it  on  the  screen  beside  the  first  one, 
please.  Ah,  I  see.  It  shows  the  same  corner  of 
Theobold's  office.  The  body  is  gone,  but  the  stain 
of  the  pool  of  blood  is  still  there.  And  the  streak 
of  light  falls  in  just  the  same  place  as  in  the  other 
picture,  does  it?" 

"Anybody  can  see  that  it  does.  It  runs  right 
along  the  groove,  and  against  the  edge  of  the 
desk." 

"Who  took  this  picture,  and  when  was  it 
taken?" 

"I  took  it,  on  the  morning  of  July  9th,  the  day 
after  the  murder." 

"At  what  hour?" 

"  The  clock  on  the  wall,  at  the  top  of  the  picture, 


THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN       249 

shows  the  time.  You  can  see  that  the  long  hand 
points  exactly  to  the  hour.  It  is  ten  o'clock.'* 

"Yes,  yes;  so  it  does.  But  how  are  we  to  know 
that  the  clock  is  right?" 

"I  had  set  it  that  very  morning,  according  to  my 
watch,  and  I  had  set  the  watch  a  few  minutes 
before  according  to  the  Pennsylvania  clock  as  I 
came  down  the  street  to  the  office.  Mr.  Webster 
was  with  me  in  the  office  when  I  set  the  clock,  and 
he  compared  it  with  his  watch  and  said  it  was 
right." 

"Mr.  Webster,  the  prosecuting  attorney  here?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"A  fortunate  coincidence.  Now  have  you 
another  picture  that  will  show  us  whether  the 
streak  of  light  there,  which  runs  along  the  crack 
in  the  floor  and  to  the  corner  of  the  desk,  really 
moves  with  the  sun,  and  so  marks  the  time?" 

"Yes,  sir.  I  have  one  taken  about  ten  minutes 
later  on  the  same  morning,  from  a  little  different 
angle,  to  get  in  the  desk,  that  shows  the  shadow 
on  the  floor  and  the  clock  just  the  same." 

"Is  this  it?  Kindly  project  it  beside  the  other 
pictures.  Yes.  There  we  have  the  same  streak 
of  light,  but  it  has  swung  along  the  floor  until  it 
lies — how  far  should  you  say  beyond  the  groove?" 

"About  ten  inches  or  a  foot.    You  can  see  that 


250        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

it  runs  up  the  middle  of  the  panel  on  the  desk,  in- 
stead of  striking  just  at  the  edge.  I  have  noticed 
that  it  moves  along  the  floor,  there  by  the  desk, 
about  one  inch  a  minute,  and  you  see  that  the 
the  clock  points  to  ten  minutes  after  ten." 

"In  effect,  then,  that  streak  of  light,  where  the 
sun  shines  through  the  crack  between  the  curtain 
and  the  edge  of  the  window  sill,  is  like  the  shadow 
on  a  sun  dial,  and  tells  the  time,  in  a  general  way, 
with  absolute  certainty." 

"Yes,  sir.  There  can't  be  much  doubt  about 
the  sun  being  right,  whether  or  not  the  clocks  are." 

"And  when  that  streak  of  light  falls  straight 
along  that  groove  and  up  on  the  edge  of  the  desk,  as 
it  does  in  those  first  two  photographs,  it  is  just  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  by  the  sun?" 

"Yes,  sir,  by  the  sun,  and  by  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road time." 

"  That  first  picture  would  seem  to  demonstrate, 
then,  that  Theobold  was  lying  dead  in  his  office  at 
the  moment  the  sun — and,  according  to  your  claim, 
as  substantiated  by  Mr.  Webster,  the  clock  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Station — marked  the  hour  of  ten. 
Are  you  aware,  however,  that  the  person  who  took 
this  photograph  has  sworn  that  he  labelled  it  at 
the  moment  when  it  was  taken,  writing  the  legend 
on  the  film  just  as  you  do  with  yours,  and  that  this 


THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN        251 

record  on  the  film  states  that  the  photograph  was 
taken  at  seventeen  minutes  after  ten?" 

"Yes,  I  know  that,  but  I  can  explain  it.  The 
clock  in  the  office  there  was  seventeen  minutes 
ahead  of  time  on  the  morning  of  July  8th.  Mr. 
Theobold  told  me  of  it  when  he  came  in  that 
morning,  and  told  me  to  change  it,  and  to  keep  it 
right  in  future,  but  not  to  bother  about  it  then 
because  he  was  expecting  some  callers.  Then 
after  I  got  back  I  didn't  think  about  the  clock 
until  the  next  morning,  when  I  changed  it  and  set 
it  right,  as  I  told  you,  while  Mr.  Webster  was  there. 
Mr.  Webster  must  remember  it,  for  we  spoke  about 
the  clock  being  seventeen  minutes  fast.  So  the 
man  who  took  that  first  picture  made  his  record 
all  right  by  the  clock;  but  the  clock  was  wrong." 

"Yes.  The  clock  was  wrong;  but  the  sun, 
fortunately,  was  right.  And  the  sun  very  kindly 
left  this  record  on  the  very  film  that  was  labelled 
10:17  to  show  that  the  picture  was  really  taken  at 
precisely  ten  o'clock.  There  you  see  it,  gentle- 
men of  the  jury,  and  your  Honour.  There  you 
see  it,  Mr.  Webster.  There  all  the  world  can 
note  the  testimony  of  the  sun.  On  the  first 
photograph,  put  forward  by  the  States,  and 
authenticated  by  the  State,  is  the  indelible  record 
that  saves  the  life  of  a  man.  The  witness  of  the 


252        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

sun,  gentlemen,  pointing  across  the  floor  there  by 
the  foot  of  the  body  of  John  Theobold,  like  the 
finger  of  destiny,  marks  the  hour  of  ten,  and 
proves  irrevocably  that  at  that  hour  on  the  morn- 
ing of  July  8th,  John  Theobold  was  lying  dead. 
"  Even  so.  But  where,  at  that  very  moment  was 
Emanuel  Cortez,  who  is  alleged  by  the  State  to 
have  fired  the  bullet  which  is  thus  demonstrated 
to  have  done  its  evil  work  not  later  than  that  hour? 
Why,  gentlemen,  according  to  the  sworn  testimony 
introduced  by  the  State,  and  submitted  to  you  as 
unchallanged — testimony  which  the  defense  ad- 
mits because  it  is  absolutely  true — Emanual 
Cortez  was  travelling  from  Long  Island  on  a  train 
that,  coming  through  the  East  River  tunnel,  did 
not  reach  the  Pennsylvania  Station  until  two 
minutes  before  ten.  He  could  not  have  reached  his 
office  in  less  than  four  minutes,  it  is  conceded  by 
the  State;  and,  indeed,  the  State  fixes  the  time 
of  his  arrival  at  six  minutes  after  ten,  and  claims 
that  the  shooting  took  place  one  or  two  minutes 
later,  namely  at  10:07  or  10:08.  It  took  a  certain 
time,  of  course,  for  the  discovery  of  the  body,  the 
summoning  of  the  ambulance  surgeon,  together 
with  the  orderly  who  took  the  picture,  from  the 
New  York  Hospital,  down  in  Sixteenth  Street, 
In  point  of  fact  the  State  admits  that  the  orderly 


THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN        253 

was  not  there  to  take  this  picture  until  at  least 
nine  or  ten  minutes  after  the  death  of  Theobold. 

"It  follows — since  now  we  know  that  the 
picture  was  taken  at  ten  o'clock — that  Theobold 
was  killed  at  least  ten  minutes  before  ten;  there- 
fore he  had  been  dead  at  least  ten  or  twelve  minutes 
before  the  train  bearing  Cortez  reached  the 
Pennsylvania  Station. 

"Here,  then,  gentlemen,  is  the  demonstration 
that  I  promised.  In  making  the  demonstration, 
we  have  had  the  aid — the  material  aid — of  the 
young  man  there  in  the  witness  box.  But  the 
demonstration  has  been  made  solely  with  materials 
furnished  by  the  State,  registered  by  the  im- 
partial, the  irrefragible,  the  life-saving  testimony 
of  the  sun." 

Weaver  paused,  and  for  a  long  half  minute  stood 
motionless  and  silent.  When  finally  he  spoke  he 
addressed  the  court. 

"Your  Honour,"  he  said.  "I  must  ask  your 
indulgence  if  in  presenting  this  evidence  my 
enthusiasm  has  led  me  to  transcend  the  bounds 
of  conventional  procedure.  The  revelations  that 
I  intend  to  bring  out  with  the  aid  of  the  witness 
now  on  the  stand  are  by  no  means  finished;  they 
are  only  begun.  Yet  I  submit  that,  even  at  this 
stage,  conclusive  and  demonstrative  evidence  has 


254       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

been  presented  to  show  that  Emanuel  Cortez  did 
not  shoot  John  Theobold,  because  it  is  physically 
impossible  that  he  should  have  done  so;  and  that 
no  shred  of  evidence  or  suspicion  remains  to 
suggest  that  Cortez  had  knowledge  of  or  was  con- 
nected with  this  crime,  directly  or  indirectly. 

"I  ask  you,  therefore,  to  interrupt  the  regular 
procedure  of  examination  of  this  witness  long 
enough  to  instruct  the  jury  to  find  Emanuel 
Cortez  not  guilty,  and  to  clear  and  exonerate  him 
of  all  complicity  in  this  crime,  without  leaving 
their  seats." 

"In  due  course,  Mr.  Weaver,  the  Court  will 
make  an  appropriate  charge.  But  this,  as  you 
are  aware,  is  not  the  time  for  it.  Kindly  proceed 
with  the  examination  of  your  witness." 

"As  your  Honour  directs.  I  thought  only  to  re- 
lieve the  minds  of  my  clients  at  the  earliest  possi- 
ble moment  from  the  awful  suspense  that  has  hung 
over  them  for  these  past  months.  But  what  your 
Honour  has  said  suffices  for  that  purpose.  I  shall 
now  proceed  to  expunge  the  only  remaining  bit  of 
evidence  that  seems  to  connect  my  second  client, 
Frank  Crosby,  with  this  crime — the  matter  of  the 
mysterious  finger-print." 


CHAPTER  XXI 
The  Finger-Print  Mystery 

WEAVER  turned  to  the  witness,  whose 
face  still  wore  an  air  of  eager  expectancy. 
"Master  Jack,  you  have  heard  it 
testified  that  one  of  the  most  incriminating  docu- 
ments in  this  case  is  an  envelope,  found  in  Theo- 
bold's  pocket,  on  which  was  impressed  a  bloody 
finger-print.  Do  you  know  anything  about  that 
finger-print — as  to  when  it  was  made,  for  example, 
and  by  whom,  and  under  what  circumstances?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Have  you  a  photograph,  taken  by  yourself, 
that  shows  the  person  who  made  the  finger-print 
while  in  the  very  act  of  making  the  impression?'* 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Have  you  another  photograph  that  shows  the 
same  person  again  making  a  finger-print  under 
quite  different  circumstances,  but  in  the  same 
room  where  the  first  finger-print  was  made?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Very   well.     I   will   ask  you   to  show  them 

255 


256       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

presently.  But  first  let  us  examine  the  famous 
finger-print  itself.  How  did  you  come  to  study  it; 
and  when?" 

"Well,  you  see,  I  had  heard  a  lot  about  this 
finger-print  but  I  never  saw  it,  and  I  never  knew 
just  what  it  was  like  until  a  photograph  of  it  was 
published  last  night  in  an  evening  paper.  Then  I 
took  the  picture  out  of  the  paper  and  threw  it  up 
on  the  screen." 

"Ah,  that  is  interesting.  Here  is  the  original 
finger-print  itself,  introduced  as  evidence  by  the 
State  to  show  that  my  client  was  guilty  of  com- 
plicity in  murder.  Will  you  please  throw  that  up 
on  the  screen?  Very  good.  Rather  a  gruesome 
object,  isn't  it,  with  its  mazes  of  lines,  when  you 
think  what  it  stands  for?  Now  proceed  with  your 
story." 

"When  I  threw  the  picture  up  on  the  screen, 
just  like  you  see  it  there,  I  didn't  think  much  about 
it  at  first,  except  what  an  awful  thing  it  was  for 
Frank  that  that  finger-print  was  there,  and  we 
couldn't  any  of  us  tell  how  it  got  there,  though  we 
knew  Frank  wasn't  guilty  and  didn't  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  it,  and  yet  we  could  see  that  the 
jury  must  think  that  he  did  unless  that  finger- 
print could  be  explained.  And  then  while  I  was 
thinking  this,  and  thinking  what  a  queer-looking 


THE  FINGER-PRINT  MYSTERY     257 

thing  it  was  anyway,  I  remembered  that  we  all  had 
our  finger-prints  made  in  the  office  the  day  after 
the  murder,  and  how  Officer  McFalcon  had  got  us 
to  make  them.  And  I  remembered  that  he  had 
given  me  the  paper  with  the  prints  after  he  had 
looked  at  it  and  didn't  seem  to  find  anything.  I 
had  it  in  my  book  of  photographs,  and  I  got  it  out 
and  threw  it  up  on  the  screen  beside  the  finger- 
print in  the  paper.  But  of  course  I  didn't  make 
anything  out  of  it,  except  that  they  all  looked 
funny  when  thrown  up  that  way." 

"This  is  the  set  of  finger-prints  you  refer  to,  I 
believe.  Please  throw  them  on  the  screen  for  us 
now.  Thank  you.  By  whom  did  you  say  these 
prints  were  made?" 

"By  Miss  Collins  and  Captain  De  Lage  and 
Doctor  Harris  and  Officer  McFalcon  and  me.  We 
just  happened  to  be  together  in  the  office." 

"You  couldn't  make  anything  out  of  these 
prints,  you  say?" 

"Not  at  first.  They  all  looked  pretty  much 
alike,  with  the  lines  wriggling  here  and  there,  and  I 
wondered  how  anybody  could  tell  anything  by 
studying  them.  I  was  thinking  all  the  time, 
though,  what  a  lot  that  finger-print  meant  for 
Frank  and  the  rest  of  us.  Then  I  began  looking  at 
the  picture  of  the  finger-prints  from  the  paper — 


258       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

the  one  up  there  at  the  left;  and  comparing  it  with 
this  set  of  finger-prints  that  we  had  made.  And 
pretty  soon  it  looked  to  me  that  the  print  of  one  of 
the  little  fingers — the  one  there  at  the  top — was 
just  about  like  the  print  that  the  murderer  left. 
The  other  fingers  were  different,  I  could  see  that 
right  away.  But  the  print  of  that  little  finger  at 
the  top  looked  mighty  like  the  blood  print." 

"  I  believe  you  are  right,  Master  Jack.  The  two 
do  look  alike.  What  did  you  do  next  ? ' ' 

"Why,  then  I  fixed  the  pictures  so  that  the 
print  of  this  little  finger  and  the  newspaper 
picture  of  the  murder  print  were  close  together." 

"  Will  you  fix  them  that  way  now,  please?  Very 
good;  very  good.  Go  ahead." 

"Well,  anybody  could  see  that  they  looked  a 
whole  lot  alike.  I  studied  one  line  after  another, 
and  compared  them  back  and  forth,  and  I  couldn't 
see  the  least  mite  of  difference.  And  than  I  ad- 
justed the  lantern  so  that  the  two  pictures  over- 
lapped and  came  right  together." 

"Can  you  do  that  for  us  now?" 

"Of  course.  It's  like  this.  There  they  are. 
And  you  see  that  when  the  two  slide  over  each 
other  until  they  are  just  the  right  position,  every 
line  of  one  fits  every  line  of  the  other,  and  they 
look  just  like  a  single  picture.  You  wouldn't 


THE  FINGER-PRINT  MYSTERY    259 

know  they  were  both  there  together.  Anybody 
would  think  it  is  just  the  picture  of  one  finger- 
print." 

"Yes;  we  can  see  that.  Move  them  apart 
again  and  readjust  them.  Excellent,  excellent. 
But  what  does  that  prove?" 

"Why,  it  proves  that  both  the  prints  were  made 
by  the  same  finger,  doesn't  it?  Officer  McFalcon 
testified  on  the  stand,  and  the  other  expert  did, 
too,  that  no  two  finger-prints  were  just  alike  in  all 
the  world.  It  seems  funny,  but  they  say  it's 
true.  And  I  know  that  all  the  finger-prints  on 
this  sheet  of  paper  here  are  different,  and  that  only 
this  one  is  like  the  print  on  the  envelope,  because 
I  tried  them  all." 

"Try  one  or  two  for  us  now,  please.  I  see. 
None  of  the  others  appears  to  fit.  Yes,  I  fancy  we 
can  all  accept  this  demonstration.  Doctor  Harris's 
lantern  appears  to  be  a  pretty  good  finger-print 
expert,  just  as  it  was  an  expert  at  chronography 
and  handwriting.  What  did  you  do  next?  " 

"Why,  I  couldn't  understand  it  all  at  first.  I 
was  so  surprised  I  couldn't  think.  Then  when  I 
could,  I  thought  of  one  of  the  photographs  I  had 
taken  the  day  of  the  murder,  and  when  I  looked  at 
that,  I  began  to  understand  all  about  it." 

"A  photograph  taken  the  day  of  the  murder?" 


260       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Yes,  sir.  I  came  back  from  Mrs.  Theobold's 
house  as  fast  as  I  could,  and  when  I  got  to  the 
office  the  room  was  full  of  people  all  examining  the 
body;  and  of  course  no  one  paid  any  attention  to 
me,  and  although  I  was  awfully  scared,  I  happened 
to  think  that  it  would  be  a  good  time  to  get  a  snap- 
shot." 

"Have  you  in  your  hand  the  one  you  took  at 
this  time?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"I  will  ask  you  to  throw  it  on  the  screen  in  a 
moment.  But  first  tell  me  what  in  particular  you 
see  in  the  picture  that  is  important  in  the  present 
connection." 

"Why,  one  of  the  men  is  leaning  over  the  body, 
and  his  hand  is  holding  the  lapel  of  Mr.  Theobold's 
coat  in  just  about  the  way  to  bring  his  fingers 
against  the  inside  coat  pocket.  You  will  see  it 
easily  when  the  picture  is  thrown  on  the  screen. 
And  then  I  remembered  I  had  seen  this  man  put 
his  finger  into  the  bullet  hole  in  the  back  just  a 
moment  before,  and  I  remembered  that  it  was  his 
little  finger  he  used — because  the  hole  was  small,  I 
suppose.  Then  it  all  came  over  me — why,  by 
golly,  he  is  making  that  finger-print  right  now  in 
that  picture!" 

"And  was  this  man  one  of  the  men  who  had 


THE  FINGER-PRINT  MYSTERY    261 

made  their  finger-prints  on  the  sheet  you  are  show- 
ing now  on  the  screen?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Was  he  the  one  who  made  the  print  at  the  top 
of  the  paper — the  one  whose  little  finger-print,  as 
you  have  just  shown  us,  corresponds  with  the 
murder  print?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Have  you  another  picture  of  this  man  making 
the  finger-print  that  is  shown  on  the  top  of  your 
set  there?" 

"Yes,  sir.  I  took  it  that  day  while  he  was 
making  the  print.  He  said  I  might.  I  had  taken 
nine  pictures  before,  and  I  wanted  to  finish  my 
roll  of  films,  so  I  could  have  it  developed." 

"So  you  not  only  have  a  picture  of  the  man 
making  the  so-called  murder  print,  but  also  the 
same  man  making  the  duplicate  print  you  have 
just  shown  us  which  fits  the  murder  print?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"One  of  these  photographs  you  already  have  in 
your  hand.  Is  the  photograph  I  now  show  you  the 
other?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Please  throw  the  two  photographs  on  the 
screen  side  by  side." 

A    moment    later    there    appeared    before   the 


262       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

amazed  eyes  of  the  spectators  first  a  picture  of 
John  Theobold  lying  dead  in  his  office,  with  a  man 
stooping  over  him;  and  then  a  picture  obviously 
of  the  same  man  seated  at  a  desk  in  John  Theo- 
bold's  office  with  his  hand  extended  and  the  finger- 
tips pressed  down  on  a  sheet  of  paper. 

Every  person  in  the  courtroom  must  have 
blinked  his  eyes  and  for  a  moment  challenged  his 
own  vision.  For  to  the  most  casual  glance  it  was 
obvious  that  the  man  who  stooped  over  the  body  in 
one  picture  and  sat  there  at  the  table  in  the  other 
was — Mel  McFalcon,  the  detective. 

The  attorney  paused  for  a  few  moments,  to  gain 
the  full  theatrical  effect  of  these  astounding 
pictures.  Then  he  himself  feigned  astonishment 
as  he  queried: 

"Have  you  understood  my  question  aright, 
Master  Jack?  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  these 
are  pictures  of  the  man  who  made  the  finger-print 
on  the  envelope  in  the  dead  man's  pocket?  Do 
you  realize  what  you  are  saying?  Do  you  under- 
stand that  the  man  shown  in  those  pictures  bears 
the  closest  possible  resemblance  to  one  of  the  most 
important  witnesses  of  the  State,  Officer  McFal- 
con, the  famed  detective?" 

"Yes,  I  know  that.  The  man  in  the  picture  is 
Officer  McFalcon." 


THE  FINGER-PRINT  MYSTERY    263 

"And  you  make  the  astonishing  statement  that 
it  was  Officer  McFalcon  who  made  the  finger-print 
on  the  envelope  which  has  served  as  one  of  the 
chief  pieces  of  evidence  in  this  case,  and  was 
claimed  by  the  State  to  fix  a  crime  indelibly  on  one 
of  the  persons  here  on  trial?'* 

"Well,  you  see,  he  didn't  know  that  he  did  it. 
He  had  put  his  finger  in  the  bullet  hole  at  the  back 
of  Mr.  Theobold's  coat  a  moment  before,  and 
when  he  was  turning  over  the  body,  to  see  where 
the  bullet  came  out,  his  finger  came  against  the 
envelope  sticking  out  of  the  inside  pocket  just  by 
accident.  He  didn't  know  he  did  it." 

The  entire  courtroom  was  breathless  as  Weaver 
turned  and  said : 

"Mr.  McFalcon,  will  you  please  step  here?" 

The  detective,  looking  utterly  dazed,  did  as  he 
was  told. 

"Now  kindly  put  your  fingers  on  this  pad  and 
make  a  print  with  your  little  finger  on  this  sheet  of 
paper." 

Again  the  detective  obeyed.  His  face  was  a 
study. 

"Thank  you,"  said  the  attorney.  "Now, 
Master  Jack,  please  put  this  finger-print,  which 
has  been  made  here  in  the  presence  of  the  jury, 
on  the  screen  beside  those  others.  Thank  you. 


264        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

Please  superimpose  this  on  the  murder  print.  Do 
they  fit?" 

"I  think  so,  sir." 

"We  can  all  see  that  they  do.  I  think  Mr. 
McFalcon  himself  will  accept  the  demonstration. 
There  can  be  no  possible  doubt  now  as  to  who  made 
the  finger-print  that  figures  so  notably  in  this 
case." 

The  stillness  of  the  courtroom  was  broken  by  a 
raucous  laugh,  followed  by  an  excited  whisper.  It 
was  Officer  Finnigan,  whose  emotion  had  made 
him  for  a  moment  oblivious  of  his  surroundings,  as 
he  demanded  of  a  neighbour: 

"Can  ye  beat  it?" 

Then  in  the  same  stage  whisper  he  supplied 
the  answer: 

"Not  in  a  thousand  years,  ye  can't." 

"Order  in  the  Court!"  commanded  a  stern 
voice,  and  Finnegan  collapsed,  his  hand  clasped 
over  his  mouth  to  control  his  ill-timed  mirth. 

As  for  McFalcon,  his  face  was  so  red  that  it 
shone  even  in  the  dim  light  of  the  courtroom. 
For  a  moment  all  eyes  were  upon  him,  and  he 
seemed  fairly  to  shrivel  as  he  tip-toed  back  to  his 
seat. 

Then  Weaver  was  again  the  central  figure  as  he 
turned  to  the  Court  and  said : 


THE  FINGER-PRINT  MYSTERY     265 

"Your  Honour,  I  submit  that  this  demonstra- 
tion that  the  finger-print  about  which  we  have 
heard  so  much  was  made  not  by  any  criminal  or 
accomplice  in  crime  but  by  a  representative  of  the 
Law  itself;  made  inadvertently,  it  is  true,  but  as  a 
part  of  no  felonious  enterprise.  This  demonstra- 
tion removes  another  element  of  mystery  from 
this  case,  and  in  so  doing  clears  away  the  last  bit  of 
evidence  that  would  tend  to  connect  the  second  of 
the  accused  persons,  Frank  Crosby,  with  this 
crime. 

"To  be  sure  we  have  heard  something  of  missing 
papers,  but  these  are  not  in  evidence,  and  more- 
over I  promise  to  explain  that  aspect  of  the  matter 
fully  in  a  moment. 

"Meantime,  I  ask  the  Court  to  charge  the  jury 
that  without  leaving  their  seats  they  shall  acquit 
and  exonerate  Frank  Crosby  on  the  grounds  that 
there  is  not  a  scintilla  of  evidence  against  him." 

"At  the  proper  time  the  Court  will  make  an 
appropriate  charge,  Mr.  Weaver.  In  anticipation 
of  that  time,  for  the  relief  of  the  mind  of  your 
clients,  the  Court  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  it 
accepts  the  demonstration  your  witness  has  given 
as  conclusive  and  final.  I  apprehend  that  the 
State  will  offer  no  objections,  for  no  one  can  listen 
to  this  testimony  and  be  in  doubt  as  to  its  purpose. 


266       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

But  you  have  promised  other  revelations  in 
connection  with  this  case,  and  while  I  freely 
grant  that  you  have  accomplished  all  that  can 
legally  be  demanded  of  the  defence,  hi  that  you 
have  cleared  your  clients  of  the  crime  charged 
against  them,  and  cleared  them  absolutely,  yet 
doubtless  it  will  serve  the  interests  of  justice,  and 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  add  that  it  will  be  a  matter  of 
personal  gratification  to  the  Court,  if  you  will 
permit  your  witness  to  continue  with  his  revela- 
tions. 

"I  confess  that  when  you  put  this  boy  on  the 
stand  I  was  skeptical  indeed  as  to  your  capacity  to 
fullfil  the  predictions  you  had  made.  But  what 
you  have  done  thus  far  justifies  the  expectations 
that  you  may  fullfil  all  the  terms  of  your  proposal, 
and  reveal  to  us  the  character  of  a  crime  that 
yesterday  seemed  clear  as  to  its  main  features,  but 
which  we  had  totally  misapprehended,  and  which 
now  seem  utterly  mysterious.  Kindly  proceed." 

"It  is  my  privilege  to  do  so,  your  Honour;  a 
privilege  not  without  painful  features,  as  will 
appear  in  due  course." 


CHAPTER  XXII 
A  Curtain  Hole  and  What  It  Revealed 

THE  attorney  fumbled  for  a  moment  among 
the  papers  on  the  table,  and  then  handed 
Jack  Henley  yet  another  photograph. 

"Will  you  kindly  project  this  on  the  screen? 
Thank  you.  Now  will  you  tell  us  what  it  repre- 
sents, and  what  inference  you  draw  from  it?" 

"It  is  a  photograph  of  a  part  of  the  inside  of  the 
safe  in  Mr.  Theobold's  office,  and  the  blotch  there 
shows  where  the  bullet  that  killed  Mr.  Theobold 
landed  on  the  safe  wall,  and  was  flattened  out  and 
dropped  back  to  the  bottom  of  the  safe." 

"What  about  that  whitish  spot  near  the  middle 
of  this  blotch?" 

"Well,  that  was  what  caught  my  eye  when  I 
threw  up  this  picture,  the  night  before  last,  when 
Doctor  Harris  gave  me  the  projection  machine." 

"What  did  you  make  of  it?" 

"I  couldn't  make  anything  out  of  it.  In  the 
original  photograph  it  showed  only  as  a  little  spot, 
and  might  have  been  a  speck  of  anything  on  the 

267 


268        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

negative.  But  it  looked  kind  of  odd  on  the  en- 
largement, and  so  when  I  went  to  the  office  yester- 
day morning  I  thought  I  would  look  at  the  safe 
and  see  if  that  would  tell  me  anything.  When  I 
did  look  carefully  I  saw,  plain  as  day,  even  though 
it  was  a  little  dark  back  in  the  safe,  that  there  was 
something  peculiar  about  the  dent  where  the 
bullet  had  landed.  The  light  spot  in  the  negative 
was  made  by  something  whitish,  and  the  more 
I  looked  at  it,  the  more  I  saw  that  it  was  a  round 
piece  of  steel  or  some  metal  like  that,  about  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  through,  and  that  it  had  gone 
right  into  the  metal  of  the  safe,  and  made  it  kind 
of  splash  around  it,  the  way  mud  splashes  when 
you  drop  a  pebble  into  it.  Then  I  recalled  seeing 
a  picture  of  something  that  looked  like  that,  and 
that  it  was  a  picture  of  metal  that  a  steel  pro- 
jectile had  gone  into." 

"But  you  knew  that  the  revolver  bullet  they 
found  in  the  safe  was  made  of  lead,  didn't  you?" 

"Yes,  I  knew  that  it  looked  like  lead,  and  I 
supposed  it  was.  But  I  knew  that  some  bullets 
are  made  with  steel  points,  so  that  they  can 
penetrate  anything  they  hit,  and  I  began  to  won- 
der if  this  wasn't  one  of  those  bullets.  Only  at 
first  I  thought  it  couldn't  be  because  steel-pointed 
bullets  are  used  only  for  rifles  and  not  for  revolvers. 


A  CURTAIN  HOLE  269 

At  that  time  I  supposed  that  Senor  Cortez  must 
have  done  the  shooting,  and  done  it  with  that  big 
revolver,  for  everybody  said  so.  But  when  I  began 
to  think  about  that  steel  thing  in  the  safe,  I 
wondered  if  maybe  it  might  have  been  a  rifle 
bullet." 

"What  then?" 

"Why,  I  went  over  and  took  a  look  at  the  place 
where  the  bullet  hit  the  desk,  there  by  the  tele- 
phone, after  it  went  through  Mr.  Theobold's  body; 
and  I  found  right  away,  now  that  I  knew  what  I 
was  looking  for,  that  the  mark  made  by  the  bullet, 
when  it  first  hit  the  edge  of  the  desk,  was  a  narrow 
groove,  a  good  deal  smaller  than  it  would  have 
been  if  made  by  the  bullet  of  a  big  six-shooter. 
That  made  me  think  some  more,  for  of  course  I 
knew  that  a  rifle  ball  may  be  long  and  slender,  and 
the  steel  point  in  the  safe  was  just  about  the  right 
size  for  the  bullet  that  made  the  groove  in  the 
desk." 

"That  was  an  interesting  discovery.  It  was 
odd  that  the  military  experts,  who  had  carefully 
scrutinized  the  situation,  and  so  learnedly  dis- 
coursed to  us  about  the  revolver  bullet,  failed  to 
discover  these  seemingly  simple  facts.  However, 
now  that  you  have  discovered  them,  what  did  you 
do  next?" 


270       THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Well,  I  thought  at  first  that  it  would  be  a 
mighty  fine  thing  for  Senor  Cortez  and  Senora 
Cortez,  if  we  could  find  that  it  had  been  a  rifle  and 
not  a  revolver  at  all.  And  I  wondered  if  there  was 
anything  else  I  could  do  to  prove  that  it  was  a 
rifle.  At  first  I  didn't  think  of  anything  except 
perhaps  to  have  the  police  examine  all  the  offices 
over  in  the  building  where  Senor  Cortez's  office 
was  to  see  if  any  one  had  a  rule.  And  then  I 
thought  of  something  else." 

"And  what  was  that?" 

"Why,  I  thought  about  what  some  of  the  experts 
who  testified  about  the  revolver  bullet  had  said 
about  trajectories.  One  of  the  ways  they  proved 
on  the  witness  stand  here  that  it  was  a  revolver 
bullet  that  killed  Mr.  Theobold  was  by  showing 
that  the  notch  in  the  desk  was  four  and  a  half 
inches  higher  from  the  floor  than  the  place  in  the 
safe  where  the  bullet  landed;  and  they  said  that  the 
bullet  wouldn't  have  had  a  drop  like  that  if  it  had 
come  from  anything  but  a  revolver,  because  a 
rifle  bullet  goes  a  lot  faster  and  so  has  what  they 
called  a  straighter  trajectory;  and  so  that  if  Mr. 
Cortez  had  used  a  rule — they  said — the  bullet 
would  have  gone  more  in  a  line  and  would  have 
hit  the  safe  higher  up." 

"Yes,  I  recall  that.     And  now  you  thought  that 


A  CURTAIN  HOLE  271 

the  expert  theories  about  trajectories  wouldn't 
fit  in  with  your  rifle-ball  theory,  and  that  naturally 
the  experts  must  be  right  and  you  must  be  wrong?  '* 

"  Well,  I  didn't  put  it  just  that  way.  I  was  only 
wondering.  Then  I  began  sighting  along  the  line 
the  bullet  must  have  taken,  the  same  as  I  had  seen 
Mr.  McFalcon  do.  I  got  back  there  by  the  safe, 
and  held  my  eye  just  about  where  the  bullet 
landed,  and  then  looked  along  the  groove  in  the 
desk.  Well,  that  line,  if  you  carried  it  out,  went 
way  up  in  the  air  clear  above  the  top  of  the  building 
where  Mr.  Cortez's  office  was.  Mr.  McFalcon  saw 
that,  of  course,  but  he  said  it  was  accounted 
for  by  the  drop  of  the  revolver  bullet.  A  revolver 
ball  doesn't  go  very  far,  and  it  has  a  big  curve." 

"Yes,  the  experts  told  us  that.  But  now  as 
you  were  sighting  along  the  line  that  the  bullet 
took,  and  saw  that  the  line  went  way  up  in  the  air 
over  the  top  of  the  building  across  there,  what 
other  thought  came  to  you?" 

"Why,  all  of  a  sudden  I  thought,  *  Jiminy!  what 
if  that  was  a  rifle  ball  after  all,  and  it  came  from 
way  up  in  the  air  over  the  top  of  that  building?' 
You  see  I  just  thought  that  if  it  was  a  rifle  ball, 
it  must  have  been  one  of  those  long,  thin  ones 
that  made  the  dent  in  the  desk,  and  with  a  steel 
point,  and  that's  the  kind  of  ball  they  use  in  the 


272        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

long-distance  rifle,  and  I  said:  'Gee!  that  bullet 
might  have  come  from  way  over  in  Brooklyn  some- 
where.' Then  when  I  thought  of  it  being  way  up 
in  the  air,  I  thought  of  the  airplane  and  I  said: 
'What  if  somebody  over  hi  Brooklyn  was  shooting 
at  the  airplane,  just  for  a  joke,  and  the  bullet 
came  over  here  and  by  accident  came  into  the 
window  and  killed  Mr.  Theobold?'  And  I  got 
awfully  excited." 

"No  wonder.  That  was  enough  to  excite  any- 
body. But  of  course  your  just  thinking  of  that 
didn't  prove  anything,  except  that  it  might  have 
happened  that  way.  What  did  you  do  next  about 
it?" 

"Why,  I  looked  up,  and  all  of  a  sudden  I  noticed 
a  hole  in  the  curtain.  And  then  I  looked  again  at 
the  photograph  I  had  taken  that  morning  when  Mr. 
Theobold  was  lying  dead  there,  and  I  saw  there  was 
a  spot  of  light  at  the  point  where  I  now  noticed  the 
hole." 

"Here  we  have  the  photograph  again.  Please 
throw  it  on  the  screen.  Ah,  yes.  I  see.  It  looks 
like  a  kind  of  an  oval  slit,  right  near  the  bottom  of 
the  curtain,  in  the  middle." 

"Yes,  sir.  That  is  it.  I  had  probably  seen  the 
hole  lots  of  times  before,  and  I  don't  suppose  I 
would  have  noticed  it  now  if  I  hadn't  been  think- 


A  CURTAIN  HOLE  273 

ing  about  the  bullet  perhaps  coming  from  way  up 
in  the  air.  Well,  I  saw  from  the  photograph  just 
how  far  the  curtain  was  pulled  down  the  day  Mr. 
Theobold  was  shot,  and  when  I  placed  the  cur- 
tain there,  I  saw  right  away  that  the  hole  was  just 
exactly  in  line  with  the  nick  in  the  desk  and  the 
spot  where  the  bullet  hit  the  safe." 

"And  what  did  that  show?" 

"It  showed  this  bullet  was  not  coming  in  a 
short  curve,  but  was  going  pretty  straight,  al- 
though of  course  falling  toward  the  earth;  and 
the  line,  when  you  followed  it  back,  went  way  up 
over  the  building  where  Senor  Cortez's  office  was. 
Then  I  knew  it  had  to  be  a  rifle  ball,  for  if  any 
bullet  from  the  level  of  Senor  Cortez's  office  had 
made  that  hole  in  the  curtain  and  dropped  from 
there  to  the  nick  in  the  desk,  it  would  have  hit  the 
floor  long  before  it  got  to  the  place  where  the  safe 
was." 

"Anything  else?" 

"I  studied  the  hole  in  the  curtain,  and  found 
that  it  was  a  lot  smaller  than  a  bullet  hole  from  a 
six-shooter  would  be.  It  had  just  nicked  the 
curtain  stick,  and  the  groove  was  narrow  like  that 
in  the  desk.  And  then  I  knew  there  just  couldn't 
be  any  doubt  about  it  at  all.  It  was  a  rule  ball 
that  killed  Mr.  Theobold,  and  the  rifle  was  fired 


274        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

from  somewhere  way  over  beyond  the  Cortez  build- 
ing. I  was  so  excited  that  I  was  scared." 

"No  wonder.     And  what  then?" 

"Why,  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  I  remembered 
something  else." 

At  this  point  the  Assistant  District  Attorney  was 
heard  to  utter  a  low,  sardonic  laugh.  He  leaned 
toward  one  of  his  associates  and  muttered: 

"A  fancy  bunch  of  eagle-eyed  detectives  we  had 
on  this  job.  I  wonder  they  found  the  corpse." 


CHAPTER  XXIH 
The  Airplane  Gun 

PROCEED  with  your  story,  Master  Jack," 
said     Mr.    Weaver.      "You     say     you 
remember  something  else?      Something 
that   had   to   do   with   this   bullet   or   with   the 
rifle?" 

"Well,  I  didn't  know.  A  friend  of  mine  over  in 
Brooklyn — Jimmy  Felton — had  told  me  about  an 
airplane  gun  that  was  up  on  the  roof  of  the  build- 
ing where  he  works,  in  a  little  laboratory  that  was 
up  there.  He  said  a  man  had  this  airplane  gun, 
and  that  it  was  so  fixed  that  when  he  touched  the 
button  it  would  swing  up  in  the  air  and  be  clamped 
in  position  and  fired.  He  said  the  man  fired  it  at 
the  airplane  that  was  giving  a  lesson  in  prepared- 
ness. He  was  up  on  the  roof  at  the  time  and  saw 
it  through  the  window.  Only  he  said  he  guessed 
the  gun  wasn't  loaded,  for  it  made  hardly  any 
smoke  and  very  little  noise.  He  took  a  snapshot 
of  the  gun  through  a  broken  windowpane.  He 
had  gone  up  on  the  roof  to  take  snaps  at  the  air- 

275 


276        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

plane.     He  had  promised  to  give  me  copies  o 
these  snapshots.     We  trade  photographs.'* 

"Is  the  picture  I  now  hand  you  the  snapshot 
that  shows  the  airplane  gun?" 

"Yes.  The  picture,  he  said,  was  taken  just 
when  the  gun  was  pointed  up  in  the  air  in  the 
direction  of  the  airplane,  and  clamped  there. 
After  it  was  fired,  it  settled  back  on  a  pivot  and 
stayed  there." 

"Please  project  the  picture.  Ah,  I  see.  That 
looks  to  me  like  a  barrel  of  a  military  rifle  with 
the  stock  removed,  pivoted  at  the  base  so  it  could 
swing  up  or  down.  But  what  do  you  make  of 
that  thing  at  the  end  of  the  barrel?" 

"I  reckon  that  is  a  silencer.  In  fact,  I  know  it 
is,  for  I  had  seen  models  of  it  before,  and  plans 
of  it.  It  is  a  wonderful  invention,  and  it  makes  it 
so  you  can  shoot  a  gun  without  showing  any  smoke 
or  making  any  sound." 

"Just  one  moment,  please.  There  is  one  point 
that  has  not  been  made  clear.  You  say  your  boy 
friend  told  you  that  the  gun  was  being  fired  just  at 
the  moment  when  he  took  this  picture.  I  don't 
see  any  one  there  to  fire  the  gun;  do  you?" 

"Oh,  no.  I  forgot  to  tell  about  that.  He  said 
that  the  man  who  had  the  airplane  gun  had  it 
fixed  so  he  could  shoot  it  from  a  distance  by 


THE  AIRPLANE  GUN  277 

touching  an  electric  button.  He  thought  the 
plan  was  to  have  the  airplane  gun  on  the  top  of  a 
house,  and  then  if  any  airship  turned  up  you  could 
shoot  at  it  from  down  below  by  touching  a  button, 
which  you  could  have  arranged  in  a  bomb-proof 
room,  or  anywhere." 

"Did  he  tell  you  where  the  man  had  this  electric 
button  arranged  with  which  he  could  shoot  the 
gun,  in  this  particular  case?" 

"Yes;  he  knew,  because  he  saw  a  man  laying 
the  wires  and  he  asked  him,  and  he  thought  it  was 
a  mighty  fine  idea." 

"What  was  the  idea?" 

"Why  the  touch-button  was  arranged  in  an 
office  four  flights  down  from  the  roof,  and  all  they 
had  to  do  to  fire  the  gun  was  to  touch  the  button. 
He  thought  that  the  idea  must  be  to  have  a  series 
of  airplane  guns  arranged  for  different  heights,  all 
connected  with  electric  wires,  and  these  wires 
going  to  a  central  station.  Then  a  man  somewhere 
else  could  watch  for  the  airplane  and  signal  by 
telephone  just  where  they  were,  the  way  they  do 
down  at  Sandy  Hook  when  they  want  to  give  the 
range  to  the  guns  hi  the  fort.  The  man  with  the 
range-finder,  you  know,  is  off  at  a  safe  distance, 
and  he  telephones  his  observations,  and  then  the 
gunners  know  what  to  do." 


278        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Was  the  electric  button  that  fired  the  airplane 
gun  near  a  telephone,  so  that  it  could  be  used  like 
that?" 

"Yes,  sir,  of  course.  There  was  a  telephone 
right  on  the  desk,  so  that  the  inventor  could 
take  the  message  and  fire  the  gun  at  the  same 
time." 

"A  very  clever  device,  indeed.  But  you  say 
your  friend  told  you  about  this  some  time  ago. 
Did  he  tell  you  the  name  of  the  inventor  of  this 
interesting  apparatus?" 

"No;  he  did  not  know  his  name,  and  he  has  left 
the  job  he  had  in  that  building,  and  anyway  it 
didn't  occur  to  me  that  there  was  any  reason  why 
I  should  care  to  know  his  name,  until  I  saw  this 
photograph — and  then  I  did  know  it  without 
asking." 

"And  when  did  you  see  this  photograph?" 

"Only  last  night.  After  I  got  thinking  about 
these  things,  and  thinking  that  the  airplane  gun 
might  have  been  loaded  after  all,  and  might  have 
shot  the  bullet  over  here  by  accident  and  killed 
Mr.  Theobold.  And  I  hunted  Jimmy  up,  and  got 
the  photograph." 

"You  say  that  as  soon  as  you  saw  the  photo- 
graph you  knew  who  the  man  was  who  owned  the 
airplane  gun?  How  was  that?" 


THE  AIRPLANE  GUN  279 

The  entire  audience  was  tense  with  expectation 
as  Jack  answered: 

"  Why,  I  recognized  the  thing  there  at  the  end  of 
the  gun  barrel  as  a  silencer  and  smoke  consumer 
that  a  friend  of  Mr.  Theobold's  had  patented,  and 
that  Mr.  Theobold  was  interested  in.  I  remember 
how  the  inventor  had  been  in  Mr.  Theobold's 
office  on  the  very  morning  when  Mr.  Theobold  was 
killed,  and  that  he  and  I  had  put  our  names  to  a 
paper  as  witnesses  for  the  signature  of  Mr.  Theo- 
bold himself  and  Captain  De  Lage." 

"And  was  there  something  on  those  documents 
that  the  picture  of  the  airplane  gun  brought  back 
to  your  mind?" 

"When  I  saw  this  picture  of  the  gun,  I  re- 
membered instantly  the  picture  that  was  on  the 
documents  I  signed  which  showed  this  silencer  and 
smoke  consumer  in  diagram.  I  supposed  that 
Captain  De  Lage  was  buying  this  for  the  French 
Army." 

"And  the  man  whom  you  know  as  the  inventor 
also  of  the  airplane  gun  which  is  pictured  there  on 
the  screen  is ?" 

"Doctor  Harris." 

"The  same  Doctor  Hams  who  appeared  on  the 
witness  stand  to  testify  to  an  incident  that  helped 
establish  the  time  when  Mr.  Theobold  was  killed?" 


280        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

"Yes,  sir;  the  same  Doctor  Harris." 
"  What  was  done  with  the  papers  that  had  been 
signed  by  Mr.  Theobold  and  Captain  De  Lage,  and 
which  you  and  Doctor  Harris  witnessed,  after  you 
had  placed  your  signatures  on  the  document?" 

"Captain  De  Lage  put  them  in  his  pocket,  and 
took  them  away  with  him." 

"Did  Mr.  Theobold  make  any  comment  to  you 
with  reference  to  these  papers?  " 

"Yes;  he  had  gone  through  the  hall  to  the 
elevator  with  Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage, 
and  I  was  just  going  out,  to  take  the  message  to 
MJS.  Theobold,  when  he  met  me  in  the  hall,  return- 
ing. And  he  said:  'That's  the  second  large  deal 
I've  got  off  my  chest  this  morning,  Jack.  The  other 
one  was  just  burning  money,  but  I  get  a  cool  half 
million  out  of  turning  this  trick."! 

"He  seemed  quite  jubilant  as  he  said  this?" 
"Yes;  he  was  laughing,  and  he  chuckled  in  a  way 
he  had  when  he  was  pleased.     I  remember  just 
how  he  repeated  the  words:    'A  cool  half  million,' 
and    then    he    said:     'Stick    to    business,    Jack. 
Business  brains  are  what  count.     Money  gives 
cards  and  spades  to  inventive  genius,  any  day.' " 
"What  did  you  think  he  meant  by  that?" 
"I  thought  he  meant  that  he  had  got  the  long 
end  of  the  bargain,  and  that  it  was  better  to  have 


THE  AIRPLANE  GUN  281 

his  kind  of  business  brain  than  the  ingenius  brain 
of  Doctor  Harris." 

Mr.  Weaver  paused  and  seemed  to  reflect  a 
moment.  Then  he  said,  slowly: 

"Do  you  see  the  Doctor  Harris  to  whom  you 
refer — the  inventor  of  the  apparatus  which  was 
sold  to  the  French  Government  through  Captain 
De  Lage,  and  the  inventor  of  the  airplane  gun  of 
which  that  is  a  picture — do  you  see  this  Doctor 
Harris  in  the  room?  " 

"Yes  sir,  he  is  sitting  over  there  by  the 
door." 

"Do  you  also  see  Captain  De  Lage?" 

"Yes,  sir;  he  is  sitting  there  with  Doctor  Harris." 

Again  the  attorney  paused.  Then  he  turned 
very  deliberately  and  for  a  few  minutes  stood  silent, 
as  if  meditating. 

"Your  Honour,"  he  said,  presently,  "I  have 
been  a  little  in  doubt  as  to  whether  my  duty  in 
this  matter  extends  further  than  to  hand  certain 
evidence  in  my  possession  over  to  the  District 
Attorney.  After  consideration,  however,  I  think 
that  in  justice  to  my  clients  I  had  best  say  a  few 
words  more.  I  could  present  detailed  evidence 
for  what  I  am  about  to  say  if  I  chose,  but  that  is 
not  my  function ;  it  is  the  function  of  the  prosecut- 
ing attorney  in  a  subsequent  case.  Now  I  shaU 


282        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

only  give  you  the  outline  of  the  story,  that  the  last 
element  of  mystery  may  be  removed  from  this 
case,  and  every  lingering  suspicion  be  forever 
removed  from  my  clients.  I  shall  be  very 
brief. 

"First,  let  me  point  out  that  the  papers  to  which 
the  witness  has  just  referred — those  which  he  said 
were  witnessed  by  himself  and  by  Doctor  Harris — 
and  which  were  taken  from  the  office  by  Captain 
De  Lage,  with  the  full  consent  and  approval  of 
John  Theobold,  are  the  remaining  papers  that 
were  missed  from  the  safe  by  Miss  Collins,  and  the 
absence  of  which  suggested  to  the  prosecution — 
and  indeed  must  need  suggest — the  presence  of  an 
accomplice  in  the  office  at  the  time  of  the  death  of 
John  Theobold.  Jack  Henley  never  knew  until 
yesterday  that  any  mystery  was  attached  to  the 
absence  of  these  particular  papers.  He  did  know 
that  the  transaction  represented,  in  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Theobold,  a  half  million  dollars  of  profit,  as  he 
has  told  you;  but  he  did  not  know  that  the  only 
claim  that  John  Theobold,  or  his  estate,  had  upon 
the  money  to  be  paid  by  the  French  Government 
for  Doctor  Harris's  invention  was  established  and 
cited  exclusively  in  the  papers  that  were  signed 
in  duplicate  that  morning,  and  taken  by  Captain 
De  Lage,  and  one  of  which  was  to  have  been 


THE  AIRPLANE  GUN  283 

returned  within  an  hour,  after  receiving  the 
completing  signature  of  the  final  representative  of 
the  French  Government. 

"But  such,  your  Honour,  was  the  fact.  It  is  a 
further  fact  that  the  paper  thus  signed  in  duplicate 
was  never  returned  to  the  office  of  John  Theobold, 
and  that  to  this  day  Theobold's  estate  has  no 
scrap  of  paper  showing  that  it  has  any  claim  upon 
any  part  of  the  three  quarters  of  a  million  dollars 
that  the  French  Government  paid,  or  promised  to 
pay,  through  Captain  De  Lage,  to  Doctor  Harris 
for  this  invention. 

"And  in  that  fact,  your  Honour,  is  to  be  found 
the  true  motive  for  the  murder  of  John  Theobold. 
The  prosecuting  attorney,  in  ascribing  an  alleged 
motive  to  Emanuel  Cortez  for  the  murder  of  John 
Theobold,  of  which  Cortez  is  now  happily  proved 
absolutely  innocent,  mentioned  the  lust  for  money 
among  these  motives.  It  chances,  your  Honour, 
that  in  making  this  allegation,  the  prosecuting 
attorney  was  stating  a  true  motive,  although  he 
named  the  wrong  individual.  It  was,  in  point  of 
fact,  lust  for  money,  and  that  alone,  that  actuated 
the  murder  of  John  Theobold.  An  invention  had 
been  made  which  Theobold  had  financed.  The 
French  Government  had  purchased  that  invention 
for  three  quarters  of  a  million  dollars.  Theobold 


284        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

was  to  have  two  thirds  of  the  money.  But  the 
inventor  nursed  the  idea,  during  the  long  months 
when  negotiations  for  the  sale  of  the  invention 
were  under  way,  that  he,  rather  than  the  financier, 
should  chiefly  have  profited  by  the  transaction. 

"It  is  not  for  me  to  say,  your  Honour,  whether 
or  not  such  a  conception  was  justified.  Suffice  it 
that  the  inventor  nurtured  the  idea  and  brooded 
over  it,  until  he  became  filled  with  envious  hatred 
of  John  Theobold  which,  however,  he  was  clever 
enough  to  conceal.  Meantime,  his  dissatisfaction 
was  fostered  and  augmented  by  the  machinations 
of  his  associate,  Captain  De  Lage,  for  his  own 
selfish  ends.  It  was  conceived  that  some  scheme 
might  be  put  into  effect  whereby  Theobold  might 
be  deprived  of  the  half  million  dollars  that  his 
contract  called  for.  But  neither  of  the  plotters 
fully  trusted  the  other,  and  the  man  who  finally 
perfected  the  nefarious  project  that  involved  the 
death  of  Theobold  kept  his  own  counsel. 

"How  the  murder  project  was  carried  out,  you 
already  know.  The  weapon  of  its  accomplishment 
is  the  so-called  airplane  gun  depicted  there  on  the 
screen  before  you.  This  gun,  of  course,  was  never 
intended  to  be  discharged  at  an  airplane,  but  it 
was  purposely  placed  where  any  one  who  by  chance 
saw  it — and  the  professional  associate  of  the 


THE  AIRPLANE  GUN  285 

murderer  as  well — might  suppose  that  it  had  this 
purpose. 

"Three  or  four  months  before  that  fateful  day  of 
July  8th  the  potential  murderer  had  taken  the 
exact  bearings  of  the  Theobold  building,  over 
there  near  the  Pennsylvania  Station,  from  the  roof 
of  the  office  building  over  in  Brooklyn,  two  and  a 
half  miles  away,  and  had  adjusted  and  skilfully 
aimed,  with  the  aid  of  a  telescope  sight,  the  rule  that 
you  see  depicted  there,  taking  off  the  stock,  and  ad- 
justing it  to  a  pivot,  to  make  it  seem  more  mys- 
terious, and  attaching  it  to  the  silencer  and  smoke 
consumer  that  its  discharge  might  not  be  noticed 
even  should  any  one  be  near  on  the  roof  at  the  time. 

"All  this  happened,  your  Honour — necessarily 
happened — before  the  building  was  erected  in 
which  the  office  of  Cortez  was  located. 

"It  is  more  likely,  even,  that  it  was  the  observa- 
tion of  the  putting  up  of  that  building,  as  made  by 
the  plotter  from  Theobold's  office,  that  suggested 
the  nefarious  project.  Necessarily  the  rifle,  in 
order  to  carry  its  death-dealing  bullet  over  the 
three  miles  that  separated  it  from  Theobold  in  his 
office,  must  point  high  in  the  air.  Everyone  knows 
that  a  bullet  to  travel  that  distance  must  rise 
hundreds  of  feet  above  the  line  of  sight.  So  the 
fact  that  a  building  had  been  constructed  that 


286        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

effectively  shut  off  the  view  of  Theobold's  office 
from  the  roof  of  the  building  occupied  by  Harris 
and  De  Lage  offered  no  obstacle  to  the  bullet, 
while  at  the  same  time  affording  what  was  ex- 
pected to  prove  an  effective  screen  against  dis- 
covery of  the  method  by  which  the  murder  was  to 
be  carried  out. 

"Your  Honour  is  aware  how  nearly  successful 
that  project  was,  and  how  effectively  the  presence 
of  the  high  building  just  across  from  Theobold's 
office  prevented  police  and  prosecuting  attorney 
and  experts  alike  from  conceiving,  even  as  a 
remote  hypothesis,  the  real  truth  of  the  circum- 
stances, and  the  true  method  of  the  murder. 

"And  yet  in  the  end,  the  old  maxim  that 
'murder  will  out'  has  been  vindicated.  With  the 
aid  of  a  bright  boy  who  likes  to  dabble  in  photog- 
raphy, and  who  has  a  receptive  and  imaginative 
mind,  we  have  been  able  to  ferret  out  the  exact 
sequence  of  events  and  to  show  you  precisely  how 
this  murder  was  done. 

"In  your  mind's  eye  you  see  the  assassin  prepar- 
ing his  weapon,  selecting  a  day  when  the  project 
of  an  airplane  flight  over  New  York  would  lend 
itself  to  his  purpose;  planning  to  get  possession  at 
just  the  right  moment  of  the  papers  that  showed 
Theobold's  claim  on  two  thirds  of  the  purchase 


THE  AIRPLANE  GUN  287 

money;  planning  an  absolute  alibi  by  being  miles, 
away  from  the  scene  of  the  murder;  even  having  at 
his  elbow  men  who  had  not  the  remotest  notion  of 
what  he  was  really  doing  when  Mrs.  Theobold  was 
called  up  on  the  'phone,  and  through  her  it  was 
known  that  Theobold  himself  was  answering  her 
call. 

"Then,  knowing  that  his  victim  was  seated  in 
the  appointed  chair  of  execution,  the  assassin 
pressed  the  button,  quite  unbeknown  to  his 
companions,  and  in  a  few  seconds  the  electric 
current  and  the  flying  bullet  had  done  their  work. 

"Such,  gentlemen,  was  the  manner  in  which  the 
murder  of  John  Theobold  was  accomplished." 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
"Suicide  Is  Confession" 

FOR  a  long  half  minute  the  attorney  paused. 
A  buzz  of  conversation  went  about  the 
room,  as  every  man  whispered  exclama- 
tions of  astonishment  to  his  neighbour. 

Cortez  was  sitting  erect,  his  face  jubilant. 
Crosby,  on  the  other  hand,  was  almost  in  collapse, 
his  face  for  the  first  time  revealing  the  stress  of 
long-pent  emotion.  Senora  Cortez  and  Cynthia 
Collins  were  sobbing  softly  in  each  other's  arms. 

Jack  Henley,  his  face  eager  though  grave,  still 
sat  in  the  witness  chair,  his  eyes  focussed,  like  those 
of  everyone  else,  on  the  face  of  the  attorney. 

When  Weaver  spoke  again,  it  was  to  repeat  the 
phrase  with  which  he  had  seemed  to  complete  his 
speech: 

"Such,  I  say,  was  the  manner  in  which  the 
murder  of  John  Theobold  was  accomplished." 

Again  he  paused.  Then  very  deliberately  he 
queried : 

"But  who  was  the  man  who  pressed  the  fatal 

288 


"SUICIDE  IS  CONFESSION"         289 

button?  That,  gentlemen,  is  the  only  element  of 
mystery  that  still  confronts  us. 

"From  what  I  have  just  told  you,  it  is  obvious 
that  one  man  who  might  profit  by  the  death  of 
Theobold  under  these  circumstances  would  be 
Dr.  Maximilian  Harris,  the  man  who  was  actually 
telephoning  to  Mrs.  Theobold  at  the  moment  of 
the  murder,  and  whose  message  virtually  consti- 
tuted a  message  of  death. 

"But,  gentlemen,  whereas  the  signal  that  dis- 
charged the  gun  was  undoubtedly  sent  from  the 
room  in  which  Doctor  Harris  was  telephoning,  it 
does  not  of  necessity  follow  that  the  signal  was 
given  by  Doctor  Harris  himself.  That  room  had 
been  occupied  jointly  for  a  number  of  months  as 
an  office  by  Doctor  Harris  and  Captain  De  Lage. 
At  the  moment  when  the  message  was  sent,  as 
you  are  aware,  Captain  De  Lage  was  present.  So 
also  were  two  other  gentlemen,  one  of  them  a 
representative  of  the  French  Government,  another 
a  representative  of  the  Italian  Government.  A 
stenographer  sat  at  an  adjoining  desk. 

"It  would  have  be<;n  a  physical  possibility  for 
any  one  of  these  five  persons  to  have  touched  the 
button,  pressure  on  which  virtually  constituted  the 
act  of  murder. 

"Any  one  of  the  four  men  might  conceivably 


290        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

have  profited  by  the  death  of  Theobold,  and  three 
of  the  men  were  military  men  by  profession, 
presumably  competent  to  calculate  distances  and 
adjust  the  weapon,  as  you  see  it  aimed  and  ad- 
justed on  that  photograph  on  the  screen. 

"There  is  no  question  that  there  was  some  sort 
of  collusion  among  these  four  men,  whereby  each 
was  to  profit  in  some  measure,  legitimate  or  other- 
wise, through  the  sale  of  the  sound-absorber  to  the 
foreign  government. 

"But  it  does  not  follow  that  all  the  members  of 
this  company  were  parties  to  or  had  guilty  knowl- 
edge of  the  murderous  use  of  the  so-called  airplane 
gun.  In  point  of  fact,  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  only  one  of  these  men  knew  what  the 
gun  was  aimed  at,  or  had  the  remotest  conception 
of  its  real  mission.  That  man  is,  of  course,  the 
murderer  of  John  Theobold.  He  did  not  trust  his 
companions  sufficiently  to  take  them  into  his  con- 
fidence. He  had  no  accomplice.  Singly  and 
alone  he  accomplished  his  nefarious  purpose. 

"That  the  final  mystery  surrounding  this 
murder  may  be  cleared  away,  it  is  necessary  to 
name  that  man.  Fortunately  I  am  able  to  show 
you  a  photograph  that  reveals  all  four  of  the  men. 
It  appears  that  this  was  considered  in  some  sense 
an  historical  occasion,  and  that  a  photographer  had 


"SUICIDE  IS  CONFESSION"        291 

been  sent  for,  that  each  of  the  signers  of  the 
document  might  have  a  photograph  as  a  souvenir 
of  the  occasion.  Such  a  photograph  was  taken  at 
the  very  moment  when  the  telephone  message  was 
being  sent  to  Mrs.  Theobold.  In  other  words,  it 
was  taken  at  the  very  moment  when  the  murder 
was  committed. 

"This,  your  Honour,  is  the  photograph  I 
promised  to  show  you  when  I  said  I  would  show  a 
picture  of  the  murderer  in  the  very  act  of  com- 
mitting this  crime.  Master  Henley,  will  you 
kindly  project  this  photograph  on  the  screen?" 

A  moment  later  there  appeared  on  the  screen, 
beside  the  picture  of  the  airplane  gun,  a  picture  of 
an  office  interior  showing  four  men  grouped  about 
a  desk. 

"Gentlemen,  you  will  observe  that  Doctor  Harris, 
whom  you  have  seen  here  on  the  witness  stand,  is 
seated  at  the  desk,  leaning  back  in  a  chair,  with  the 
telephone  transmitter  in  his  right  hand,  holding  the 
telephone  receiver  to  his  ear  with  his  left  hand. 

"You  observe  that  Captain  De  Lage  is  sitting 
at  his  right,  at  a  table  that  adjoins  the  desk,  and 
that  the  Captain's  right  hand  rests  on  the  desk  in 
such  a  position  that  it  might  have  pressed  a  button 
if  a  button  were  located  there. 

"At  Doctor  Harris's  left  sits  Major  Cambon,  a 


292        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

representative  of  the  French  Government,  his  left 
hand  resting  on  the  edge  of  the  desk. 

"Slightly  to  one  side,  in  the  middle  of  the  fore- 
ground, stands  Captain  Gardini,  of  the  Italiain 
Army.  His  position  is  such  that  he  could  not  have 
touched  a  button  unless  it  were  on  the  floor  in  the 
centre  of  the  room  which  hardly  seems  plausible. 
I  think,  therefore,  that  we  may  eliminate  Captain 
Gardini  from  all  suspicion  of  having  murdered 
John  Theobold. 

"As  to  Major  Cambon,  it  appears  that  he  had 
arrived  in  this  country  only  ten  days  before  July 
8th,  and  we  have  seen  that  the  murder  of  Theobold 
was  necessarily  planned  at  least  two  months  before 
that  date — namely,  before  the  high  building 
directly  across  from  the  Theobold  office  was 
erected.  So  Major  Cambon  is  also  removed  from 
suspicion. 

"There  remain  two  men,  both  of  whom  were  in 
direct  communication  with  Theobold,  both  of 
whom  would  profit  by  his  death  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, both  of  whom  had  occupied  the  office, 
from  which  the  murder  message  was  sent,  for  more 
than  three  months,  both  of  whom  were  familiar 
with  range-findings  and  with  the  sighting  of  a 
rifle. 

"In  the  picture,  one  of  these  men,  as  you  see, 


"SUICIDE  IS  CONFESSION"        293 

sits  with  both  hands  engaged  where  seemingly  they 
could  not  touch  an  electric  button;  the  other  has 
his  hand  where  it  might  be  used  for  such  a  purpose. 

"But,  gentlemen,  I  must  call  your  attention 
to  one  fact  that  hitherto  I  have  not  mentioned: 
The  button  that  sent  the  message  that  caused  the 
discharge  of  the  gun  and  brought  about  John 
Theobold's  death  was  not  placed  in  an  ordinary 
location,  but  was  adjusted  in  the  floor  of  the  office, 
where  it  could  be  operated  with  the  foot.  You  will 
note  that  the  feet  of  Doctor  Harris  were  under  his 
desk  and  those  of  Captain  De  Lage  under  the 
adjoining  table. 

"Everything  depends,  gentlemen,  on  the  ques- 
tion whether  that  button  was  located  under  the 
desk  or  under  the  table. 

"And  as  to  that  question,  gentlemen,  I  must 
freely  admit  that  to-day  there  remains  no  direct 
evidence  that  will  supply  an  answer,  since  the 
wires  were  removed  on  the  evening  of  July  8th. 
The  question,  nevertheless,  shall  not  go  un- 
answered. 

"Fortunately  it  happens  that  both  of  the  men 
are  now  present  in  this  courtroom.  They  are 
sitting  together,  over  by  yonder  door.  One  of 
them,  gentlemen,  is  as  innocent  of  direct  com- 
plicity in  the  death  of  John  Theobold  as  any  man 


294        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

amongst  you.  The  other  is  the  sole  plotter  of 
that  crime,  and  the  only  person  living  who  until 
yesterday  knew  how  the  crime  had  been  com- 
mitted. 

"Gentlemen,  the  prosecuting  attorney  has  told 
you  that  justice  is  not  blind — that  she  is  eagle- 
eyed.  Thank  fortune,  that  statement  was  true, 
embedded  as  it  was  in  a  mass  of  error.  Justice  is 
eagle-eyed.  For  a  time  in  this  case  it  seemed  as  if 
her  eyes  were  purposely  averted,  but  now  at  last 
she  has  turned,  has  scrutinized  the  field  with 
penetrating  vision,  and  she  stands  ready  to  point 
out  the  murderer." 

As  the  attorney  spoke,  he  turned  slowly  until  he 
faced  away  from  the  jury,  and  toward  the  door  at 
the  back  of  the  courtroom  where  Doctor  Harris, 
the  inventor,  and  Captain  De  Lage,  representative 
of  the  French  Government,  sat  together.  Slowly  he 
raised  his  hand  until  it  was  extended  high  in  air. 
Slowly  his  hand  began  to  descend,  one  finger 
rigidly  pointing,  while  he  leaned  forward  as  if  he 
would  stretch  his  arm  across  the  courtroom  and 
touch  the  very  brow  of  the  culprit. 

Afterward,  Weaver  admitted  that  he  did  not 
himself  know  which  man  to  name.  But  there  was 
no  suspicion  of  doubt  or  uncertainty  in  his  voice  as 
he  shouted: 


"SUICIDE  IS  CONFESSION"        295 

"  Gentlemen,  it  is  my  unsought  privilege  and  my 
painful  duty  to  point  out  to  you  the  murderer  of 
John  Theobold,  at  once  among  the  most  clever 
and  most  nefarious  and  cold-blooded  criminals  of 
any  age.  Yonder  he  sits.  His  name,  gentlemen, 
is " 

But  the  sentence  was  never  finished.  Even  as 
the  name  seemed  to  poise  on  the  attorney's  lips, 
there  was  a  muttered  cry  from  the  back  of  the 
courtroom.  A  figure  suddenly  arose,  and  the 
death-like  silence  of  the  courtroom  was  broken  by 
the  spiteful  crack  of  a  pistol.  The  weapon  clanged 
to  the  floor,  and  an  instant  later  a  limp  form 
pitched  forward  into  the  aisle,  and  lay  motionless. 

An  exclamation  of  horror  went  through  the 
audience.  A  woman  or  two  screamed  hysterically. 
Then  again  there  was  tense,  awesome  silence  as 
the  Justice  arose  from  his  chair  and  extended  his 
hands. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  he  said,  "I  charge  you 
to  find  a  verdict  of  not  guilty.  The  prisoners  at 
the  bar  are  exonerated.  They  are  cleared  of  all 
complicity  in  the  crime  by  the  most  remarkable 
series  of  demonstrations  that  I  have  ever  seen 
in  a  courtroom.  The  thanks  of  the  Court,  and  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  are  due  to  Master  Jack 
Henley,  who  has  given  these  demonstrations.  The 


296        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

apologies  of  the  Court  and  the  State  are  due  to 
Emanuel  Cortez  and  to  Frank  Crosby  for  the 
gross  injustice  done  them  when  their  names  were 
in  any  way  associated  with  the  crime  for  which 
they  were  indicted.  Unfortunately,  the  law  gives 
them  no  redress.  Beyond  the  expression  of  re- 
gret, we  can  offer  them  no  reparation." 

The  Justice  paused  to  attend  for  a  moment  to 
the  whispered  message  of  a  court  official  who  had 
hurried  from  the  rear  of  the  room.  Then,  with 
hand  raised  almost  as  if  by  way  of  benediction,  he 
continued: 

"Gentlemen,  the  evidence  has  not  only  cleared 
the  defendants,  but  has  pointed  out  the  real  cul- 
prit. Suicide  instigated  by  such  evidence  as- 
suredly is  tantamount  to  confession.  It  needs  no 
jury  to  decide  that  the  murderer  of  John  Theo- 
bold  is  the  man  who  lies  there  in  the  aisle,  dead  by 
his  own  hand — the  man  who  in  life  was  Maxi- 
milian Harris." 


CHAPTER  XXV 
A  Matter  of  Fact 

A5XANDER  WEAVER  held  a  levee  in  the 
courtroom  at  the  close  of  that  memorable 
trial;  and  a  more  extended  one  at  his 
office  half  an  hour  later.  He  received  with  at 
least  a  show  of  modesty  the  congratulations  of  his 
lawyer  friends  on  what  they  pronounced  the  most 
spectacular  triumph  of  his  career.  But  it  was 
obvious  that  he  was  under  great  nervous  tension 
from  lack  of  sleep  and  the  intense  excitement  in- 
cident to  the  trial,  and  presently  he  began  to  re- 
alize that  he  was  dead  tired.  So  he  slipped  away 
from  his  admiring  friends,  leaving  the  junior  part- 
ner to  do  the  honours.  That  night,  acting  on  the 
advice  of  his  physician,  he  took  a  train  for  the 
Adirondacks. 

He  remained  in  the  mountains  two  weeks,  and 
came  back  feeling  fit  as  a  fiddle.  The  junior 
partner  met  him  at  the  station  and  gave  him  a 
condensed  account  of  matters  and  of  things  at  the 
office,  but  no  mention  was  made  of  the  Theobold 

297 


298        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

case  until  the  two  lawyers  were  alone  in  Mr. 
Weaver's  library.  Then  the  senior  partner,  smil- 
ing benevolently  on  his  protege,  remarked  with 
seeming  casualness: 

"Well,  Bob,  what  did  you  think  of  it?" 

"It  was  a  great  demonstration,  Aleck.  The 
slickest  thing  ever  seen  in  a  courtroom.  You 
made  a  bomb-proof  demonstration,  and  the  whole 
town  has  been  talking  about  it  ever  since.  And 
not  a  mortal  has  ever  suspected  that  it  was  all 
bunk." 

" Bunk?  What  the  deuce  do  you  mean?  Every- 
thing I  showed  was  clear,  unequivocal  facts. 
You  know  that  as  well  as  I  do." 

"I  know  that  you  think  so.  But  I  also  know 
that  a  good  share  of  your  facts  were  of  the  Josh 
Billings  type — things  that  ain't  so.  You  demon- 
strated the  guilt  of  a  man  who  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  murder.  And  I've  had  to  wait  two 
weeks  to  tell  you  what  actually  happened .  I  didn  't 
dare  write  it  for  fear  the  letter  might  go  astray." 

The  senior  partner  scrutinized  his  companion 
with  an  expression  of  half-bored  wonderment. 

"What's  the  joke?"  he  queried,  presently. 
"You  say  my  demonstration  didn't  demonstrate. 
It  caused  the  fellow  to  kill  himself,  didn't  it?  Isn't 
suicide  confession?" 


A  MATTER  OF  FACT  299 

"Confession?  Yes;  but  in  this  case  not  a  con- 
fession of  murder.  Harris  killed  himself  because 
he  was  a  German  spy,  and  saw  that  the  jig  was  up. 
He  had  papers  on  his  person  and  in  his  office  that 
were  absolutely  incriminating.  He  saw  there  was 
no  chance  for  a  getaway,  and  he  didn't  want  to  be 
taken  over  to  Paris  to  duplicate  the  experience  of 
Bolo  Pasha.  So  he  appointed  himself  to  be  his 
own  firing  squad.  But  he  had  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  murder  of  Theobold." 

The  senior  partner's  expression  graded  from 
wonderment  to  solicitude  as  he  scrutinized  his 
companion  for  a  full  half  minute  before  he  said: 

"Man  alive!     Are  you  crazy?" 

"No,  I  am  very  sane.  Let  me  tell  you  a  little 
story.  On  the  night  before  your  coup,  just  as  you 
were  starting  uptown  to  get  your  fancy  bunch  of 
photographs  and  all  that,  I  had  a  communica- 
tion myself.  It  was  a  note  from  Crosby,  saying 
he  wanted  to  see  me.  I  went  over  to  the  Tombs 
and — to  make  a  long  story  short — Crosby  '  'fessed 
up'  on  the  whole  business." 

"Crosby  "fessed  up'?     What  do  you  mean?" 

"Just  what  I  say.  The  killing  of  Theobold  was 
the  most  commonplace  murder  ever  committed, 
without  the  remotest  element  of  mystery  or  com- 
plication. Crosby  did  it.  The  motive  was  the 


300        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

plain,  old-fashioned  one  of  jealousy;  there  was  no 
accomplice;  and  the  murder  wasn't  premeditated 
for  more  than  half  a  minute.  Do  you  recall  that 
Theobold  was  making  a  play  for  Crosby's  girl — 
Miss  Collins — and  that  in  escorting  the  Senora 
through  the  office  that  morning  he  made  a  bluff 
about  being  able  to  buy  her?  Well,  Crosby  simply 
saw  red  at  that;  and  when  Theobold  came  back,  he 
rushed  into  the  office  and  shot  him,  with  a  plain, 
ordinary  pistol — no  smoke  consumer,  no  sound 
consumer — just  a  hard-shooting  little  automatic. 
The  joke  of  it  is  that  you  had  it  figured  out  like 
that  early  in  the  game — only  you  thought  he  used 
a  silencer — and  that  policeman  Finnigan,  the 
stupidest  man  on  the  job,  doped  the  thing  just 
about  right  from  the  start.  Heaven  knows  it  was 
a  simple  enough  crime.  It  required  skilled 
detectives  and  astute  prosecuting  attorneys  and 
high-brow  experts  to  camouflage  the  job  and  make 
it  seem  mysterious." 

"But  hold  on!  If  what  you  say  is  true,  that 
pistol  must  have  made  a  report.  Why  didn't  Mrs. 
Theobold  hear  it  at  the  other  end  of  the  line?" 

"She  wasn't  there.  She  had  hung  up.  Theo- 
bold's  talk  with  her  occurred  several  minutes 
earlier,  before  the  Senora  came  in.  Theobold  was 
at  the  'phone  when  he  was  shot,  to  be  sure,  but 


A  MATTER  OF  FACT  301 

he  was  only  trying  to  get  Central,  and  he  couldn't, 
because  the  girl  at  the  local  central  in  his  main 
office  was  up  on  the  roof.  There  was  no  one  to 
hear  the  report  except  Seiiora  Cortez.  She  heard 
it  because  she  had  turned  back  to  have  another 
talk  with  Theobold.  She  ran  right  into  Crosby 
as  he  was  coming  out  with  the  pistol  in  his  hand. 
And  she  took  the  pistol  and  made  a  swift  geta- 
way. 

"Then  before  Crosby  had  time  to  get  his  bear- 
ings— before  he  had  time  even  to  come  out  of  his 
trance,  to  realize  clearly  what  he  had  done — Miss 
Collins  came  in.  The  rest  of  the  story  is  ancient 
history." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  Crosby  confessed 
all  this  to  you  that  night?" 

"He  sure  did.  He  said  he  couldn't  let  the  case 
go  on  because  it  was  evident  that  Cortez  would  be 
convicted;  and  Cortez  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  it.  Crosby  wanted  to  go  on  the  stand  and 
make  a  clean  breast  of  it.  He  said  his  case  was  as 
bad  as  it  could  be,  anyway,  and  there  was  no  reason 
why  an  innocent  man  should  suffer  with  him.  Of 
course  I  rushed  back  to  tell  you  all  about  it;  but 
when  I  managed  to  run  you  down  I  found  that  you 
had  a  lovely  solution  of  the  murder  all  worked  out. 
So  I  kept  mum.  I  saw  it  was  no  time  to  butt  in. 


302        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

But  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  Crosby's  face  while 
you  were  heroically  demonstrating  his  innocence." 

The  senior  partner  was  silent  for  several  minutes; 
and  the  way  he  manipulated  his  fingers  suggested 
that  he  was  running  over  all  the  evidence  to  see  if 
anything  conflicted  with  this  new  solution.  He 
nodded  his  head  reflectively,  apparently  in  ac- 
knowledgment that  there  was  nothing  in  the 
elaborate  structure  of  evidence  inconsistent  with 
Crosby's  statement.  Then  he  looked  puzzled. 

"What  about  that  bullet  hole  in  the  curtain?" 
he  queried. 

"Just  an  accidental  tear,  like  ten  thousand 
others.  Probably  made  by  a  window  hook.  Or 
it  may  have  been  punched  with  a  file  or  other  blunt 
instrument,  so  that  the  curtain  cord  could  be  tied. 
I  went  up  and  looked  at  it.  No  rifle  ball  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  it." 

Again  the  senior  partner  meditated. 

"Which  all  goes  to  show,"  he  said,  presently, 
"that  no  amount  of  circumstantial  evidence  ever 
proves  anything.  It  only  shows  that  things  might 
have  happened  in  a  certain  way.  It  does  not  and 
cannot  show  that  they  might  not  have  happened 
in  some  other  way.  But  it  certainly  was  lucky  for 
Crosby  that  he  didn't  make  his  confession  earlier. 
By  the  way,  where  is  he  now?" 


A  MATTER  OF  FACT  303 

"Somewhere  in  Mexico.  He's  perfectly  safe 
here,  of  course,  but  he  felt  that  he  wanted  to  get 
out  of  the  country.  I  don't  know  that  I  blame 
him.  I  fancy  the  Senora  will  join  him  down  there. 
She  and  Cortez  have  been  at  odds  for  a  long  time, 
and  I  think  she  always  had  a  fancy  for  Crosby, 
even  before  they  had  this  secret  in  common. 
Cortez  has  gone  back  to  Brazil." 

"But  what  about  Crosby  and  his  other 
girl?" 

"Miss  Collins?  Well,  I  think  she  suspected 
Crosby  all  along.  And  I  don't  think  she  ever 
cared  a  lot  for  him.  She  kept  up  appearances  un- 
til the  trial  was  over,  but  I  fancy  she  has  had  her 
eye  on  Captain  de  Lage  for  some  time  back.  And 
speaking  of  De  Lage  reminds  me.  I  made  some 
inquiries  about  that  airplane-defence  gun  which 
your  'demonstration'  showed  to  be  the  murder 
weapon.  In  reality,  it  appears  to  have  been  just 
what  it  purported  to  be,  a  gun  intended  to  shoot 
at  airplanes  or  balloons.  Its  only  peculiarity  was 
that  it  was  adjusted  with  an  electrical  device  that 
caused  it  to  move  parallel  to  an  aiming  apparatus 
that  could  be  placed  at  a  distance,  and  in  this  case 
was  in  a  room  in  Doctor  Harris's  office.  Harris 
demonstrated  it,  it  appears,  to  the  bunch  of  men 
who  were  with  him  that  morning  by  aiming  at  the 


304        THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SUN 

airplane  and  discharging  the  gun  automatically. 
But  in  point  of  fact,  nothing  but  blank  cartridges 
were  used.  Of  course  the  thing  was  worthless  like 
all  of  Harris's  other  inventions,  but  he  apparently 
thought  he  might  palm  it  off  on  some  government. 
The  alleged  demonstration  did  occur  at  about  the 
time  when  Theobold  was  killed,  because  the  air- 
plane was  going  over  at  that  time;  but  that  was  a 
mere  coincidence.  Harris's  activities  that  morn- 
ing and  the  death  of  Theobold  were  utterly  un- 
related." 

For  the  ensuing  five  minutes  or  so  the  senior 
partner  sat  stock  still  except  that  his  hands 
occasionally  moved  as  if  to  emphasize  points  in  his 
mental  soliloquy.  Then  he  waved  both  hands 
and  shrugged  his  shoulders  as  if  to  dismiss  the 
subject  for  all  time,  and  laughed  as  he  avowed: 

"Well,  I  saved  the  necks  of  our  precious  clients, 
anyway." 

"You  sure  did,  Aleck;  and  that,  after  all,  is  what 
a  lawyer  is  for." 

"And  no  one  can  deny  that  it  was  a  lovely  and 
most  logical  demonstration.  Moreover,  it  appears 
that  I  did  clear  Cortez  legitimately;  and  the  finger- 
print trick  I  turned  against  McFalcon  was  au- 
thentic. Besides  which,  I  appear  to  have  bagged 
a  German  spy  on  the  side.  And  incidentally  you 


A  MATTER  OF  FACT  305 

tell  me  that  Cortez  paid  us  a  very  decent  fee.     Not 
a  bad  morning's  work,  after  all." 

"Right  you  are,"  acquiesced  the  junior  partner 
with  enthusiasm. 


THE   END 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 
GARDEN  CITY,  N.  Y. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000036182     4 


